About hypocrisy

I am a state employee and thus taxpayers of the state allow me to support myself and my family. It may be possible to calculate how much of this support comes directly from the State coffers and how much of that is voluntary (taxes on things that people buy) and what fraction is involuntary (income, real estate and such taxes) but that is irrelevant. The question is - Since I am on the public dole as it were, should I not be a liberal and actively support the public expenditure for anything and anytime? Am I being hypocritical by expressing conservative or
libertarian views? Why do I not work for a private company but depend on public coffers?

It does get worse. My undergraduate education was funded almost entirely by public funds and yet I left my country of birth and proceeded to graduate school in the US, thereby the tax payers who funded my education can claim that they have not benefited by their expenditure (according to one view). Should I be forced to pay back the taxpayers of India for the education that enabled me to come to the US and support myself?

An issue I confront is about hypocrisy - what it is and how does one avoid being one (if one wants to).

I support the idea of vouchers for kids to go to private schools - I would be a hypocrite if I oppose any such voucher attempts for higher education, I do not. The fact that about 30% of our university funding comes directly from State appropriations with the rest from tuition and other sources may be somewhat relevant, but the fact remains that tax payers do support me. If we lose that 30% we would be in trouble for sure. The University of Virginia (state supported) gets about 10 to 15 % of their funds from the State, they are considering taking it private.

Milton Friedman criticized public education (certainly at the college level) - anything that forced all taxpayers to fund something that they did not have much control over, he was opposed to it - and I admire Milton Friedman. Yet, I remain on the public dole, I do not resign and find a job in the private sector.

Private Colleges and schools. At the K-12 level, private schools get almost no funds from public sources, while public schools are almost entirely funded by taxes. Private colleges on the other hand do have access to funds that are private - yet it is naive to think that Harvard can do as well as they do without access to public funds like that from the NIH and NSF - so are they private or public?

I detest Al Gore and how he has advanced his own career by scaring people about Global Warming. I have remarked that he does not truly believe in Global Warming since he does nothing to reduce his own Carbon footprint - His energy consumption in his home is way beyond that of normal households - yet he chastises others for similar behavior - He is a hypocrite I have said many times. If so, then I am a hypocrite also since I am on the public dole and criticize public funding for different purposes.

Fine, so be it - it is possible for many to conclude that I am a hypocrite then for living off the public dole and saying bad things about the very source of such funds. I disagree, but there is not much I can do - and in the eyes of some unless I resign and earn money from purely private sources, I am a hypocrite.

I disagree. No, not that I am not a hypocrite but that speaking out on such issues makes me one. "Yes, I am a hypocrite" sounds very much like the "I am a sinner" that we hear just before that person donates some money to someone to absolve himself of such sins or find ways to get brownie points to make some good and improve his/her standing.

I will have more to say on this issue.