If We Can't See It, It Doesn't Exist
The above sentiment is a good part of the reason why abortion is legal. There weren't ultrasounds back in 1973 when Roe v. Wade was handed down and if there were I doubt nationally protected abortion would exist. Public sentiment has turned, and mostly just because we can see babies in the womb.
This also applies to numerous and other things more subtly.
For example, not all war casualties are equal - quiet deaths don't bother consciences as much as loud, bombing deaths which involved destroyed infrastructure.
It's also a truism that the withholding tax - whereby the gov't takes it's bite before we get our paycheck - is a really fine way to tax without the public feeling any pain. Similarly the gas tax. It's ingenious. Everyone thinks that the price of gas is the price you pay at the pump when in reality it's at least thirty to fifty cents a gallon less.
It's interesting that yesterday all six state ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage passed. My working theory is that they passed because voters think it's something they can give to other people for free - i.e. higher minimum wages without negative repercussions either for the minimum wage workers or to the voter himself. It's a "win-win", since we don't connect lost jobs with higher taxes or higher wages. As Rich Leonardi wrote, "According to most independent economists, i.e., those not on a government or union payroll, mandatory wage hikes are job-killers. When you make the supply of something more expensive without a commensurate increase in demand, buyers — in this case employers — want less of it."
I submit that if that wage amendment was worded such that Ohioans would pay an increased tax in order to pay for the minimum wage increase, it never would've passed. And yet we'll either pay for the increased wage in higher prices for goods and services - the best case scenerio and one I can easily live with - or, more likely, the poor will pay for it with fewer job opportunities.
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