American exceptionalism

As best I can tell, there are exactly zero people like this in continental Europe:

http://rachellucas.com/index.php/2008/04/12/today-i-know-the-meaning-of-butthurt/

I think Rachel substantially overestimates the fraction of the budget that actually goes to poor people in the US (as opposed to old people or favored businesses / farms or foreign military adventures or people and firms in the poverty industry). And, of course, some parts of government can be viewed in multiple ways with differing normative spins: for example, is social security a vote-buying handout scheme, a realistic approximation to some optimal inter-generational transfer or a way to deal with human limitations in regard to discount rates? It is all of these at some level and probably some other things as well.

I think the relatively large number of people like Rachel in the US puts a real break on the size of government, which is a good thing in my view (even if there are a few bits I would make larger, most bits I would make much smaller).

Hat tip: instapundit.com