The Mathematics of Politics

I may have iterated this story before but a few years ago my son was asking what the difference between the political parties really is. Knowing that at his age a long drawn out response would simply bore him to death and turn his interest level way down, I gave him the following explanation which I believe still stands today.

Everyone pays taxes and those taxes go to wards paying for some of the things it makes sense to pay for together. All parties agree that some money is needed to do these things.

But let’s say you make $10 an hour at your job.

The Conservative Party would take $3 of that money and let you decide how you want to spend the remaining $7.

The Liberal Party would take $4 and let you decide on how to spend the other $6.

And the NDP would take $6 of that money and leave you with only $4 to spend the way you want.

In my opinion, this is a valuable math lesson for all of us.