This is pretty much how I feel. I've traveled all over the world and seen everything from good to bad. I generally opposed increased taxation in the US, not because I am opposed to the policies it would benefit, but because I do not believe I get my money's worth from our government. Given the services I receive, I pay a massively higher tax burden than I would in most of Europe comparatively.

The quality and quantity of services are so much higher in Europe that the minimal additional cost isn't burdensome, but our services are so few and so poor in the US that any additional cost I couldn't abide and I think we should be pushing hard for the government to do more with less.

In the end, this is what Eisenhower warned us about. It's a consequence largely of the military-industrial complex, and then similar complexes between government and other industries. These situations with the intentional incompetence to drive cost overruns is effectively a fraud committed against the American taxpayer, and it is absurd to expect us to want to pay one red cent more into what is effectively a scam.