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Most of us are hypocrites. Sorry to say it, but it's a fact. Most people in general are hypocrites.
That being said, I disagree with your assertion regarding drug testing welfare recipients. I would not call any restriction based on any benefit intervention by virtue of the fact that it is voluntary.
Anyone who accepts federal funds in any way shape or form should be under scrutiny. Such is not intervention, but a pre-condition to an unearned benefit.
I'm with you on the "Patriot" Act, gay marriage, etc etc.
Cue the "you don't care about corporate welfare" garbage. I'll be ignoring it.
By this standard however, we should also deny people assistance for blowing money on unnecessary stuff like barking dog-bone shaped key-chains and fuzzy kitty mittens and the pile of useless junk at the local mega mart. We should deny it to people who spend too much on gas because they like drive around too much, or people who have to get a pair of shoes every week. or to people with 18 cats. The problem is WHO gets to draw the line in the sand and WHERE they're going to do it. We're a nation of druggies, kids on amphetamines, millions of people can't live without their antidepressants, people dying left and right from caffeine cigarettes etc. Everybody's on drugs -everybody. You can't ban people from smoking a plant that is older than civilization then send the whole family to the doctor to get meth for the kids and antidepressants for mom and dad, it's a double standard.
The right loves big government and advances it when ever it can. The only difference is they want the government to get bigger in different areas usually to force their religion on to everyone else.
They're not. They just hate benevolent government involvement.
republicans and democrats both have some things in common with each other. they both love more government. the more the better according to each party. neither party wants to get rid of any government at all and never will push for actual less government.
I was thinking about the controversy on drug testing government assistance recipients. After realizing just how big of an undertaking this would really be I came to what I think is the bigger question behind this.
I don't understand how the right, the poster children of "we need less government interference in our lives" could advocate what would possibly be one of the biggest happenings of big brother "interference" in American history.
The right wing is generally all for things like the Patriot Act, Homeland Security, owning 25% of the planet's incarcerated population, constitutional amendments that define marriage etc. How on earth can the right wing claim to be so viciously against government interference in our lives, yet continuously support more and more government authority over everyone?
I don't think you're really looking at this from the proper perspective. This is not drug testing the entire population. This is drug testing people receiving welfare. With the purpose being to limit abuse of welfare programs. You can't just say this is adding complexity/cost to a program therefore conservatives are hypocrites if they aren't against it. There is such a thing as context. If we're going to have a safety net, then it needs to be administered properly. You need to look at the whole picture, not just one aspect of it. We conservatives are not just going to go well it'll take less regulation to simply hand out free money to anybody who asks for it so we won't support any controls on it. We're not just blindly against all expenditures, all laws, and all federal agencies.
I was thinking about the controversy on drug testing government assistance recipients. After realizing just how big of an undertaking this would really be I came to what I think is the bigger question behind this.
I don't understand how the right, the poster children of "we need less government interference in our lives" could advocate what would possibly be one of the biggest happenings of big brother "interference" in American history.
The right wing is generally all for things like the Patriot Act, Homeland Security, owning 25% of the planet's incarcerated population, constitutional amendments that define marriage etc. How on earth can the right wing claim to be so viciously against government interference in our lives, yet continuously support more and more government authority over everyone?
#1 Yes, liberals like "Candidate Obama" blasted the Patriot Act as unconstitutional. It is too bad that conservatives like "President Obama" and his Democratic controlled congress not only renewed the Patriot Act, but increased the Patriot Act's powers without touching Homeland Security.
#2 Most of the jobs people on assistance apply for require a drug test for various reasons...such as operating machinery, a belief that non users are more reliable on average, etc... If you smoke Marijuna you can simply get turned down for jobs and remain on assistance, because people won't hire you. Many people on assistance apply for work at my wife's company - get turned down when they fail the drug test and then report that it is too hard to get a job and can prove that they applied and were rejected as her company will confirm it.
Last edited by michiganmoon; 01-16-2013 at 04:24 AM..
By this standard however, we should also deny people assistance for blowing money on unnecessary stuff like barking dog-bone shaped key-chains and fuzzy kitty mittens and the pile of useless junk at the local mega mart. We should deny it to people who spend too much on gas because they like drive around too much, or people who have to get a pair of shoes every week. or to people with 18 cats. The problem is WHO gets to draw the line in the sand and WHERE they're going to do it. We're a nation of druggies, kids on amphetamines, millions of people can't live without their antidepressants, people dying left and right from caffeine cigarettes etc. Everybody's on drugs -everybody. You can't ban people from smoking a plant that is older than civilization then send the whole family to the doctor to get meth for the kids and antidepressants for mom and dad, it's a double standard.
Obviously.
However none of this makes a case for some kind of rigid block on any intervention. Which 90% of the time is the argument used against it; the argument that it is "government intervention" on the level of say unreasonable search and seizure.
Reasonable lines can be drawn as to whether you are fulfilling your end of the social contract that is welfare. Not regularly spending your time and money on recreational drugs is hardly equatable to taking anti depressants or drinking a cup of coffee in the morning.
And that my friend would be, do as I say, not as I do.
Both parties have that, no?
Obama right before the election said that signing statements were unconstitutional, that he knows they are illegal as he is a constitutional law professor, blasted Bush for using them (pretty sweet he got to run against Bush in 2008 and 2012), and promised never to do them as they violate his fundamental principles, and promoted that he had never done them in his first term. Then 2 months after making this declaration, he issued a signing statement...what changed over that 2 months? He got reelected.
That is what happened...he got reelected and the show was over....and his voters either don't know or know, but will make an excuse like: "but Bush used them too!"
i am conservative and not for most of the things the OP posted that "the right wants".
the problem in this country WITH BOTH PARTIES is that they focus on the wrong things and spend all their free time attacking each other. (because they were brought up with a particular mindset and are locked into it).
the left needs to stop running scared that cutting government spending means "that old ladies will be pushed off the cliff" and the right needs to focus on the highest levels of fraud-which are in the government and government-connected entities, instead of the lower level welfare fraud. the right pushes the mindset that the liberals have, as well as the left, even if they do it inadvertently.
when the government literally loses billions of dollars on pallets in foreign countries, that is what we should be focused on. do people have any idea how much fraud there is out there?
you have to start fixing it at the top, not at the bottom.
instead,we will keep fighting and the fed will keep controlling and degrading our money, pushing bubbles, and sinking the middle class standard of living. americans will keep telling each other who needs to do without, who needs to pay more, who needs to get less-instead of stopping the federal reserve from controlling and degrading our currency, and forcing inflation on people whose AVERAGE PER CAPITA INCOME IS 26K.
europe is a disaster and now america is expected to become a disaster as well.
maybe the first thing that BOTH sides can agree on is that a government out of control is a dangerous government-and history has proven that again and again.
What level of scrutiny? Does that include submitting to a urinalysis before receiving every payment? And what is your definition of "unearned" benefits? Unemployment checks are covered by unemployment insurance that you pay for while you work - its not unearned, its like auto insurance. You pay into it so you collect when you need to. So would you exempt these people?
Would you make bankers take drug tests who received bailout money? Hat about CEOs who get corp welfare? We have a complete double-standard.
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