This is really a pretty quality example of how the right isn't so much allergic to public goods as it is allergic to paying for them. Greg Sargent:
You may have heard that GOP Rep. Kevin Brady, staunch tea partier, is protesting that the taxpayer-funded D.C. Metro didn’t adequately prepare for the anti-government 9/12 rally. He’s even suggesting Metro’s failure to transport tea partiers may have hurt turnout.
A Democrat, however, points out to me that Brady voted against Federal funding for the very same Metro he's blaming for offering the tea partiers substandard service.
[...]
But earlier this year, Brady voted against the stimulus package. It provided millions upon millions of dollars for all manner of improvements to … the D.C. Metro.
So even while they were attending a protest against higher taxes, the tea partiers were complaining about government services they opposed funding.
What this really says is that Americans of all ideological persuasions want quality public services, but that means higher taxes. The difference between Democrats and Republicans is that Republicans don't want to pay for them, and particularly not if they see them as benefiting "someone else."
-- A. Serwer
