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Most "poor" in America today are there by either choice or upbringing. Most are the product of generations of living on the welfare system, and feel they are entitled to receiving free housing, food, utilities, heath care, etc.
The Katrina refugees in 2005 were prime examples of this, with the majority still receiving government paid housing in varied parts of the country. I personally saw a nice Arlington, Texas apartment complex destroyed into a ghetto after only six months of the refugees living there. Garbage strewn in the parking lot, grafitti written on walls, windows broken out intentionally, many refugees drinking heavily at 9:00 a.m., and cars burglarized nightly.
Crime in the area increased by 300% since the refugees arrived. Most there in late 2005 are still there, still unemployed, and still living on government handouts. There is no excuse for this life style, other than pure ignorance and laziness. But these "poor" have cable, large screen HDTVs, money to buy beer, liquor, dope, and 20" chrome rims for their "rides," yet can't pay their rent, food or medical bills.
A Katrina survivor once asked me, in all sincerity, "Why do people have to pay to go to the doctor?" I think her Medicaid had run out because she turned 19. She got pregnant shortly afterward and was able to get back on Medicaid. Moral of the story, get pregnant before age 19 so you won't lose your Medicaid.
OP: I'm sure you'll be saying the total opposite when you lose your job, you're starving and are struggling to survive.
I'm already there. I maintain my original proposition. If I can't support myself, have no family or friends to turn to, and cannot find a charity to help me, I don't deserve to take YOUR money out of YOUR paycheck, before you even see it, to be able to buy my food.
I will feed my family on cheap hotdogs and peanut butter rather than advocate taxing YOU to feed us. If you want to help me, then please give generously to the Salvation Army or a food bank in your community.
Even in our family's dire straits, there are those worse off. I feel the need to help them, and I do. Even if it means another jar of peanut butter for us instead of hamburger.
When I was in that shape, I got up early, and stayed up late. I sold newspapers on the corner, I went door to door, asking for any work, but no hand outs, ever. I also cleaned filing station bathrooms. I raked yards, and removed debris from roofs and gutters. I would not quit, till I had a pocket full of change. And 35 years later, I'm prepared to do the same thing again if need be. I have no quit in me. but have had hard times fall on me. It defines who we are--get out and get some. You can do it.
My position exactly. My hat is off to you. Hardship builds character and resilience. I can eat peanut butter every day if I need to.
The OP has completely ignored evolution, which is one of the core liberal positions. If one believes in evolution, discounting creation and/or God, then clearly he must also recognize that in nature, every animal in a given species will not be equal. There are dominant members of every species on the planet.
The liberal notion that we can legislate "equality" continues to puzzle me. Many on this forum argue about the rights each American has. They fail to note that the rights afforded to each of us in the Constitution are "God given" rights according to our founders. Anybody who does not see the irony is blinded by partisan politics.
I must not have clarified my position. I believe that modern social supports have thwarted evolution. People are hyperprocreating who should NEVER have been able to survive to sexual maturity. Farmers in particular have to be realistic about the quality of animals that one mother can sustain when she has an overabundant litter. Because of our social norms, we can't cull the human population after birth. Abortion laws allow a certain amount before birth, but the most effective means of ensuring a healthy generation is to make certain that the infants that are conceived are desired and nurtured. That does not describe the current situation.
I believe that God used evolution in His plan. I don't see a contradiction in that. I am not a Biblical literalist. To me, seven days could be seven eons. Jesus spoke in parables. He did not intend for people to take His parables literally.
You are confusing someone who is 'down on their luck' and will probably rebound with the vast majority of the chronically poor. The majority of chronic welfare recipients do not have the mental capacity or ability to produce even what they need to survive.
The chronic welfare recipents are not folks down on their luck. They are basically unemployable. Too add fuel to this fire, those who can least afford children have the most children. These people have more children on average than the rest of society. Their numbers as a percentage of society is growing and will continue to grow.
This situation is unsustainable in the long run. The OP is correct in that Darwin says that most of these people should perish. This is natures way of improving a species and ensuring the survivability of a species. Instead we 'carry' these folks and their off spring.
There will be a tipping point beyond which there won't be enough produced by the productive members of society to carry all the non-producers. At that point Darwin will take over again.
Darwin will win in the end. It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature. In fact you cannot. Mother Nature will always win in the end.
- Reel
And if people want to counteract the natural forces, they should do so willingly rather than under duress.
I'm already there. I maintain my original proposition. If I can't support myself, have no family or friends to turn to, and cannot find a charity to help me, I don't deserve to take YOUR money out of YOUR paycheck, before you even see it, to be able to buy my food.
I will feed my family on cheap hotdogs and peanut butter rather than advocate taxing YOU to feed us. If you want to help me, then please give generously to the Salvation Army or a food bank in your community.
Even in our family's dire straits, there are those worse off. I feel the need to help them, and I do. Even if it means another jar of peanut butter for us instead of hamburger.
Well, please don't go to the Salvation Army as it receives government funding (MY paycheck). You will have to resort to digging out of the garbage cans like others. But just for you and as a personal charity, I'll place the food I am throwing out in clean little plastic bags so I can keep it separate from the really icky stuff. I know...........you will be ever so grateful for it. And completely thrilled that you won't be tapping into MY check.
So, why should the unemployable be sent to job sites where people are trying to get work done, when there is nothing for them to do there in the first place?
For most people, "down on their luck" starts when they are in elementary school and are neglected and unsupervised by their parents and uninspired by their school and are in that 50% of the population that has below average intellect and fall in with the wrong company and toxic role models. Just because you were stupid and neglected and still became successful doesn't mean that everyone can beat those odds.
So many of these children are damned at conception. Lack of prenatal education and care is just the beginning. Many children are being raised like chickens in the yard, and this starts long before school. There is no structure in their lives, only fleeting pleasure and pain. A very Id-centered experience.
I first realized the problem during Katrina when Bill O'Reilly wisely pointed out that even the worst school in New Orleans had a library. The key is that it is unrealistic to expect a child, at any age, to reason that he or she is in a bad family and then determine that the best thing to do in life is to forge ahead academically, even if (especially if) that means severing family and community ties.
Also, if half the teens you know get pregnant, and almost no one gets married, that is NORMAL for you. You don't know any better. EVERYONE gets Medicaid. That's normal. Your whole neighborhood is HUD housing. Normal. EBT? Normal. Crazy check? Normal. How do you expect a kid to know better? At age 7, 10, 13? Then time for sex in earnest, not always consensual. Then pregnancy. No time for school anymore. Then another child, then finally you're old enough to go to clubs legally. Hopefully your mother is taking care of your children better than she did you when she was your age.
The unemployable should find out what it's like to have to work or go hungry, because thieves should be in jail and their children in foster care. No one should make any work for them unless they want to. My point is that cutting welfare programs and tax rates would allow more people who want to help to be able to do so meaningfully. I give generously. I would give more if I could do so without hurting my own family. I don't know if you could describe me as "successful" if you mean financially.
Well, please don't go to the Salvation Army as it receives government funding (MY paycheck). You will have to resort to digging out of the garbage cans like others. But just for you and as a personal charity, I'll place the food I am throwing out in clean little plastic bags so I can keep it separate from the really icky stuff. I know...........you will be ever so grateful for it. And completely thrilled that you won't be tapping into MY check.
That's very kind of you, but I'll stick with the peanut butter and the day-old bread. My extended family has let us know that they are there for us if it comes to that, although I have not had to ask. I have hope that full employment will come soon. Until then, I have faith that God will take care of us as long as we continue to take care of ourselves and help others.
I had no idea that the Salvation Army took taxpayer money. I suppose I need to increase my donations.
By all means, please donate your leftovers to those in need in your area. We usually eat ours, so we mainly give cash donations.
Last edited by lhpartridge; 12-04-2009 at 08:08 PM..
Reason: include missing information
Oh, don't mention it. Because you like peanut butter, I will try to throw a new jar for you and keep it in a white bag to keep the icky stuff off. OK? Cause your going to have a hard time finding a charity that isn't taking MY money. It started in the 90s and has steadily increased.
So, God is probably going to take care of you with the jar of peanut butter in the white bag in the dumpster.
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