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In his classic book, Why Americans Hate Welfare, Martin Gilens found a striking disconnect: significant majorities of Americans told pollsters that they wanted public spending to fight poverty to be increased at the same time that similar majorities said they were opposed to welfare. Gilens studied a number of different opinion polls and concluded that the disconnect was driven by a widespread belief that “most welfare recipients don't really need it,” and by racial animus – “perceptions that welfare recipients are undeserving and blacks are lazy.”
~ from 6 Ways the Rich Are Waging a Class War Against the American People by Joshua Holland ~

I am often amazed at the disconnect in the brains of far too many of my fellow citizens. While they overwhelming support broad principles like fighting poverty, rebuilding infrastructure, strengthening education or protecting the environment, they concurrently oppose the various mechanisms that undergird the very principles they claim to support!

How else can we seek to combat poverty if we don't spend money on poor people? How can we protect the environment if people pooh-pooh concepts like recycling or climate change?

While I do understand that rational individuals can differ on the types of strategies they support, there are too many Americans who don't seem to support ANY strategies at all.

It's like saying that we want to get to a lake over there, but we aren't going to use a map and any proposed itinerary immediately is shot down as unworkable. Still, when asked, a lot of these people continue to say that they want to get to the lake post haste!