Would you like to decide where your tax dollars go?

Yes, though I realize the system would still tend to be manipulated.

I’d want none of my money to go to mega-corporate subsidies, and very little to the military, and most/all of it to go to environmental protection and rehabilitation.

My tax dollars are a tiny tiny tiny drop in a huge bucket that makes up the US government budget.

It is so small that it really doesn’t matter what I think. It won’t make an iota of difference.

No, but I’d like it to be decided by people I trust, who’ve made it their business to know what’s the best use of those funds.

Keep dreaming, right?

We do already by electing officials we trust to represent our interests and that share our worldview, as well as our votes. All budgets are public info available via Sunshine request. My family went line by line through the US Budget every year for half my life, interesting reading.

If I understand the question, it is asking if we would like to dictate where our dollars go, such as can be done with some charity drives. Of course we can’t since we have a budget and have elected representatives for this exercise, but it is a fun question nonetheless. Yes, I would. I’m not entirely sure where I would put the tax dollars, though. I know where I wouldn’t put them. Congress wouldn’t get a dime in salary until they stop playing partisan politics. I would not support lifetime retirement for senators or representatives since those are not supposed to be career positions. I would not support secret service for ex-presidents or FLOTUSes. I would support any effort to audit and revamp all programs administered by the federal government.

@seawulf575 – believe it or not, I mostly agree with you. I have one question / comment. You wrote:
Congress wouldn’t get a dime in salary until they stop playing partisan politics.

Even in an ideal world, is that even possible? For better or worse, we have a two-party (and occasionally three-party) system to differentiate one set of approaches from another. Party philosophies are fundamental to the idea of governance – if the Dems and the Repubs agreed on everything, we would never get anywhere.

Maybe you need to modify “stop playing partisan politics” to something like “destructive politics” or something like that.

@elbanditoroso No, I mean partisan politics. It is okay to disagree with one course of action or another. That’s cool…that’s what it is all about. But this idiotic voting along party lines is ignorant and lazy. We elect individuals to represent us…or we are supposed to. If they are just going to let the political party tell them how to vote, what’s the point? I would put forth that unless a suggestion is a no-brainer, it is almost impossible that you will get 200 people to agree right down the line with it. So if all or even most of one party or the other is voting for something and the other side is voting to a man against it, that is partisan politics. That is a waste of time and money and not what they are supposed to be elected for.

Isn’t that what everybody is thinking when they vote?

And it never seems to work.