Bam! Just like that.: Beggers and thieves.

You can hear it on the conservative radio stations and news outlets. You can hear it on the right hand side of the aisles of Congress. Both in plain English and in so many coded words the message is repeated again and again until far too many people begin to believe it. "The American people are soft and lazy, and they just want a hand out."
From the aftermath of hurricane Katrina in N.O.L.A. to the collapsed bridges of a decaying highway infrastructure, to the farmers and home owners surviving the latest flooding in the Midwest, Americans are waiting on rooftops and under the debris of freeway bridges as they watch their government spend years of our future and trillions of our dollars on the betterment and well being of people halfway around the globe that (aside from the few wealthy political entrepreneurs who were hand selected by the invaders to lead these people) don't even wish to be occupied by the U.S. or anyone else, any more than we would want to be.
I can't state this any more plainly.
The American people are not looking for give-aways from the government. We are looking for intelligent and reasonable yields and returns on our mandated tax dollars contributions.
And after the last two terms of the mismanagement and ineptitude of our current administration, the GOP and a string of natural disasters, many of the American people could use a little help from those taxes.
Pundits and politicians need to stop portraying reasonable tax payer expectations for funding and legislative spending as appearing as though the American people are asking for a hand out. And the American people need to stop being made to feel as though we are the beggars at the door with hats in hand trolling for alms.
This government doesn't create the revenue. This government does not produce the revenue to run and operate this country although it uses yours and mine to run and operate others. Revenue is generated by the American tax payers and the American tax payers alone.
Some people have begun to see things in such a twisted fashion and have done so for so long that they no longer know the way things are supposed to work in a democracy such is ours.
That in itself is a major contributing factor to why after less than 300 years it is appearing to be falling apart at it's seams.