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First, eliminate welfare. Completely. Let's let those who can survive on their own do, and as far as those who can't, if charity doesn't step in, they can die.
I'm surprised you didn't title your thread "A Modest Proposal".
A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in
Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for
making them beneficial to the publick.
Exactly my thought when I read the OP. I'm about as individualist/libertarian as they come, but even I think the OP premise is ludicrous. If it were satire, it might get a smile (maybe). But that's just because my sense of humor is very dark. But it's really not funny at all.
I'm not a big fan of the social net we have right now, but spinning 180 degrees is not the way to go. I just can't imagine having a neighbor out of work, with no food and starving to death, and I just watch her die of starvation because I'm not feeling charitable that month. WTF? What would that make me? That's truly sick.
Actually, forget reading Swift. Go with Marquis de Sade's darker works.
Exactly my thought when I read the OP. I'm about as individualist/libertarian as they come, but even I think the OP premise is ludicrous. If it were satire, it might get a smile (maybe). But that's just because my sense of humor is very dark. But it's really not funny at all.
I'm not a big fan of the social net we have right now, but spinning 180 degrees is not the way to go. I just can't imagine having a neighbor out of work, with no food and starving to death, and I just watch her die of starvation because I'm not feeling charitable that month. WTF? What would that make me? That's truly sick.
Actually, forget reading Swift. Go with Marquis de Sade's darker works.
Can you even imagine feeling so uncharitable that you wouldn't do something? That was Jesus' whole point: You are your neighbor's keeper. Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Feed the poor. Clothe the naked. Heal the sick. House the homeless.
Isn't that what Mother Teresa did? What did it make her? A saint, if I remember correctly.
We are all called to be saints, according to the church I attend. We are all expected to take part in the care of those less fortunate. That is the purpose of the tithe to the church: give ten percent of your income to help those less fortunate.
There are plenty of people willing to give indecent sums to megachurches to have their megacampuses and mega-activities. That's money not being spent on the poor, hungry, sick children. I won't believe the churches don't have the capability when they spend their time and money on Jesus' mission instead of their families' social lives.
If you personally can't accept ignoring the kids, organize a charity. Contribute your time and money. Get all your friends and family to do the same. Don't expect the government to be the church.
Admittedly the people at the uppermost 10% of the income would object to having much of the money they stole through market manipulation, monopoly and warmongering removed from their clutches but why not there are only a few of them anyway. It wouldn’t make a lot of difference because once you have enough spendable money to drink, smoke or get sexed to death why do you need any more?
I don't disagree that there isn't a power elite that's looting the US and the world in general, but it's much much smaller than the top 10%. It's more like the to 1/10 of 1%. And I think it's fair to say that even not all of them are thieves.
Damn..sometimes I wish I wasn't an atheist, because then I could pray that you or someone dear to you falls on hard times in a world where there is no one around to help them survive, since all the government safety nets have been abolished, and the faith-based ones are too underfunded and overwhelmed.
good points! My family and I have decided to forego exchanging gifts this year, in favor of spending that money on supporting our local food bank. . . and NO, I AM NOT a Christian!
I hope you turn your annual holiday giving into a monthly thing, like 10 percent of your income, as many Christians do. The poor really need it. There are so many things people can forego on a monthly basis, like entertainment. So much of entertainment is truly junk and unnecessary.
Exactly my thought when I read the OP. I'm about as individualist/libertarian as they come, but even I think the OP premise is ludicrous. If it were satire, it might get a smile (maybe). But that's just because my sense of humor is very dark. But it's really not funny at all.
I'm not a big fan of the social net we have right now, but spinning 180 degrees is not the way to go. I just can't imagine having a neighbor out of work, with no food and starving to death, and I just watch her die of starvation because I'm not feeling charitable that month. WTF? What would that make me? That's truly sick.
Actually, forget reading Swift. Go with Marquis de Sade's darker works.
The point being that with no welfare costs, you would pay less in taxes. Your bills would also go down accross the board because all the companies that sell you your products would be paying less taxes as well. With that savings, presumably, if you did indeed see your neighbor starving, you could help her directly or, your local church (presumably well-funded because people are giving more) could step in and help her.
Can you even imagine feeling so uncharitable that you wouldn't do something? That was Jesus' whole point: You are your neighbor's keeper. Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Feed the poor. Clothe the naked. Heal the sick. House the homeless.
Isn't that what Mother Teresa did? What did it make her? A saint, if I remember correctly.
Mother Teresa may be a saint in the eyes of the Catholic Church, but she was a fraud who cared more about publicity and her crooked, rich benefactors than the poor, suffering masses for whom she supposedly helped. One only has to dig beneath the generic praises heaped upon her, in order to get a better picture of what she meant by charity. Mother Teresa proudly answered the question "Do you teach the poor to endure their lot?" with "I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people." The Missionaries of Charity, under Mother Teresa's directorship, operated facilities which did not provide even basic medical care for the sick, as was widely believed by the worldwide public. In fact, these places mainly served as earthly rest stops for the sick and dying to find salvation i.e. die as Catholics. I always find it distasteful when Mother Teresa is held up as a paragon of selfless charity.
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