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[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by bilmore
However, we can disagree on how much of our own resources we wish to pay for the common weal - we can disagree about building a new Lawrence Welk museum, or paying megabucks for rapid transit of limited use - without being stoopid. What you consider a valid use of my money may not make me nearly as happy as it does you. You might wish to see a $1000-per-person tax just to cover, say, medical research. I might want to see that same amount spent on research on kayak design. The consensus - or, more accurately, the average amount seen as appropriate by all voters - is where we end up, and that amount crawls back and forth across the continuum as political leanings sway.

• There's a story that Winston Churchill once asked a woman if she'd sleep with him for a million dollars. She replied, "of course". He then asked her is she'd sleep with him for a hundred dollars and she replied, "Sir, what kind of woman do you think I am?"
  "We've already established that," Churchill retorted, "Now, we're just haggling about price."