[sokoloff]

Is it that they abhor the idea of someone else getting something unearned, or that they are frustrated and fed up with the things that they have worked for and earned being denied to them (and only incidentally that they are given to someone else)?

[kayodelycaon]

Let me pull an example I’ve had to deal with.

I have a disability and some of the accommodations are a regular schedule (no weekends/overtime/on call) and being able to take time off unpaid when I’m sick. This is the bare minimum I need to be able to do knowledge work.

I don’t mention this because some people don’t think I deserve special treatment just because I “claim” to have a disability. If I can take time off for “vacations” whenever I want, they should be able to as well.

If I didn’t have these accommodations, I wouldn’t be able to work. Any explanation of how being bipolar severely impacts every aspect of my life is met with “life is hard for everyone”. (Exact quote from my parents, btw.)

To put it quite simply, no one should be given anything I wasn’t given.

When it comes to taxes, they see it as the government taking what they earned and giving it to people who haven’t earned it.

[stcroixx]

This is the default point of view where and when I grew up. Based on the parable 'If you give a man a fish he is hungry again in an hour. If you teach him to catch a fish you do him a good turn.'. The independence and freedom offered by the ability to meet one's own needs rather than be at the whims of others you depend on is seen as a much greater good.