Umm, in the USA the people DO choose how the taxes are spent.
At least the people who attend all those meetings.
The problem is, even tho every single citizen has the right to attend every single meeting, most do not.
So, a 'select few' determines how tax money is distributed.
Many people 'can't be bothered' by affairs of state then choose to complain instead.
I pay my water bill every month in person at city hall. Every meeting is posted in advance on their bulletin board. I don't attend but I really don't care how taxes are spent. I also do not complain about the government unless it directly affects me. Most of it doesn't.
Our system of government is broken. It has been broken for a very long time.
The only way to fix it would be to 'change all the monkeys' and have citizens take an active role in the decision making. But, that is not going to happen.
So we get the government we have and just complain about it.
Expenditures in all levels of government are public and can be viewed by any citizen. The general public has become complacent with the government.
Someone who is complacent has become overly content — the junk-food-eating couch potato might be feeling complacent about his health.
The literal meaning of this word's Latin root is "very pleased," but even though complacent people may seem pleased with themselves, we are rarely pleased with them. They are unconcerned by things that should concern them, and they may neglect their duties. A complacent person might be heard saying, "Ehh, don't worry about it!" — when there really is something to worry about.
Ummm, in the USA people choose the people who decide what to spend the money on to a certain degree. But there is Federal, state, county, and city all of which has their budgets and rights to distribute certain money for certain things. They also have ways to collect, or borrow money in order to pay for whatever their agenda consists of. Maybe because you don't work for your money you don't feel that it "directly affects you"? But it does affect people who earn income in the amount of tax they pay, and also things we buy with sales tax. About 7 years ago my state had a spot on the ballot if you wanted to raise the sales tax one half of one percent for "clean water". For whatever reason the people voted it in and all the money goes to useless "art" projects, just another way for people to live off the system and not do their part. 1/2% may not seem like a lot of sales tax because its not on food and clothing, however whenever I buy a car new or used I have to pay my state sales tax and it adds up quickly.
I would agree that the system is broken and the monkeys need to be replaced, but clearly nobody is ever going to be able to drain the swamp with out destroying much if the structure of the country. The government is too big to fail. It would be nice to at least give back more power to the state and local governments while still keeping thing united.
The thing I would like to see is the money paid into gas tax goes to the roads, money paid for social security goes to that, and property tax goes toward police, fire, schools, and things needed at the local level. Viewing expenditures doesn't mean you have any control to change them. The government wants people to make more money because that means more taxes and more money to spend, however eventually the US government will have spent so much money that the US dollar will be devalued and useless.