All government is, in essence, "redistribution of wealth." That's what "taxes" are. "We" take from "somebody" to pay for "our" benefits. The goal of whatever government should be to make that distribution as fair as possible. What we're really dickering over is what is "fair".

Americans (and people, generally) are profoundly ignorant of how things actually work - the economy, the government, the environment. In many respects that is a manufactured ignorance. I remember taking "Civics" in high school. It covered not just government, but society, culture, history, etc. Do schools even do that anymore? We live in a "Representative Democratic Republic." Each of those words has meaning. It is time we took that to heart.