I’m all for basic scientific research such as the particle physics you disdained in your post. US Government spending for basic research in the past 3 decades has declined precipitously; concurrently, the US is lagging behind its stellar record of scientific discoveries and inventions of the earlier half of the 20th century.
The spending I am totally against is the inanity of the Democratic and Republican conventions!!!! How many tens of thousands of dollars are thrown away on balloons? (Of course, if I were the balloon merchant, I’d be thrilled!) Stop the insanity of these ninnies giving themselves self-congratulatory parties and get the governing people back in their offices!