I agree and I think that public education could be of a (much) higher quality too. I also think that NASA should have a bigger budget, as should the diplomatic endeavors. I do think that it's necessary at this time to have a strong, capable and dedicated military (though I do think that it takes up a disproportionate amount of our resources), but I'm not entirely clear on how all those things can be accomplished with taxes alone. In my opinion, a good first step would be to greatly reduce the TSA's budget, or replace the TSA with actual security, but actual security would likely be very expensive too. Money is unfortunately at the heart of these things, as you mentioned. I know I don't want to pay very high taxes, but if it's the only way to achieve real public good, then I'd gladly pay, provided there are real jobs being created so that the public can afford to pay for these things while still living well.I see them as government institutions, so employees should be paid through our taxes.