For some reason, the most obvious truths become obscured. What once was plain, common sense.. obvious to anyone with a brain, suddenly becomes lost in the noise & confusion of razzle dazzle. Education does not always impart wisdom & knowledge.. much of the time, it preaches deception & propaganda.

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned. ~Mark Twain 
How can something so plainly obvious get lost in the confusion of modern education? Like this:

There is no free lunch.
Something for nothing scams are as old as humanity. Con men & scoundrels have pitched them for millennia. Perpetual motion machines, free food, free housing, free stuff... we are led by marketeers from one illusion of free stuff to another. Most people follow the 'buyer beware' principle. But somehow, when it comes to government, our skepticism ends, & we jump on the gravy train.. free stuff for everyone! Politicians promise it to get votes. Easily led, low information voters nod like bobbleheads & pull the lever, hoping to win the lottery on the promises from the hucksters.

If a used car salesman was promising something for nothing, most people would shrug it off as a sales tactic. Or, if a timeshare salesman or carnival huckster was pitching something too good to be true, most people would dismiss it as a con. So why do people suddenly become gullible when a politician with an agenda, obvious self interests, & at no cost to himself, begins to promise pots full of chicken, & acreage with mules? Can anyone explain to me how an intelligent, skeptical electorate suddenly become willing dupes to huckster promises?

Once again Bastiat shows up with timeless truths to explain our delusion:

"Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." ~Frederic Bastiat

So when govt is involved, we somehow suspend our cynicism, & become marks for the con. I admit that they do present an attractive package. Opulence drips from them, & it seems like they can deliver on the promises. But all they can do is use the force of govt to TAKE from someone else, in order to give to another. They are not philanthropists, but thieves. They steal from the workers, & give to those who have not worked. They distort the purpose of law as a provider of justice, & twist it into an instrument of plunder. It is a scam.. a ponzi scheme, where the con men dribble some returns to keep the illusion alive, only to see it collapse later on, with many victims.

Something for nothing is a scam. There is no free lunch.
I offer these profound insights as 'Mysteries of the Universe', since they seem so deep & complex as timeless truths.

Men naturally rebel against the injustice of which they are victims. Thus, when plunder is organized by law for the profit of those who make the law, all the plundered classes try somehow to enter -- by peaceful or revolutionary means -- into the making of laws. According to their degree of enlightenment, these plundered classes may propose one of two entirely different purposes when they attempt to attain political power: Either they may wish to stop lawful plunder, or they may wish to share in it. ~Frederic Bastiat