Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So you were telling everyone that the personal responsibility stuff was false, but in fact YOU live by it daily for at least the last 30 years.
Why would you tell others to live in a different way than you have for 30 years?
Why isn't what you did good enough to be expected from everyone else unless they have a massive disability?
ummm, wrong. I believe personal responsibility is good and important, AND I believe I/we have a social responsibility to my/our community and my/our fellow citizens.
If you read the opinion piece in the OP, you will see that what Lakoff was talking about is that most conservatives believe in personal responsibility ONLY.........he said nothing about personal responsibility being BAD......and neither did I. I think personal responsibility is necessary ALONG WITH accepting that we all have a social responsibility to try to take care of each other and protect each other. As someone said, "We are ALL in this life together." I support social programs such as food stamps, medicaid, medicare, SS, etc. I am delighted to live in a country which has a capitalistic economy and takes care of its less fortunate citizens to some small extent as well.
As for me personally, I'm just a very fortunate person who has not had to worry much about my physical survival. And I do not have any complaints about any of my tax money going to help the less fortunate.
First of all, you're wrong in your attempt to read my mind and know why I created this thread. I started it for discussion, and it has gotten a lot of discussion. Do you think it's just "bait" because it disagrees with your opinions? Have you ever thought about the fact that political parties and groups of people may have a general overall set of morals and values, however, each individual in that group may not believe the exact same thing? The opinion piece in the OP is a general description of conservatives' overall morals and values.......NOT EACH INDIVIDUAL CONSERVATIVE.
Secondly, I have no problem at all acknowledging that some people do in fact take advantage of our welfare system. However, as I mentioned previously, many people who support the death penalty feel that it is okay if we execute a few innocent people as long as we try to execute all the guilty ones.......same thing is true with welfare system. Certainly there will always be some people (not the majority by any means) who will take advantage of it. But in the same spirit as with the death penalty, certainly we can deal with a few people who scam the system in order to help all the people who really need help out there.
It isn't a few, it is most and the system is broken. I don't think you know many poor people yourself or you would know this.
The OPs topic is conservatives want NO social responsibility. But conservatives take responsiblity for themselves first.
This is the way it has to be in a successful civilized society.
In theory a lot of liberals like to verbalize how they want to help others (or how the gov't should) however they are not willing to first make sure their own house is in order.
Liberals talk the good talk while conservatives are fighting the good fight.
Nobody said you didn't take responsibility for yourselves......that is exactly what the opinion piece said about conservatives. You all believe in personal responsibility..............but do NOT believe you have any social responsibility. And that's what you are saying in your post.....yes, personal responsibility.......no to social responsibility.
"Social responsibility is an ethical ideology or theory that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act to benefit society at large."
It isn't a few, it is most and the system is broken. I don't think you know many poor people yourself or you would know this.
Do you have any numbers for me regarding how many people receive welfare as well as numbers, even estimates, of people who basically scam the system?
I would say that the system is not broken if it provides for people who really need the services. It could certainly be re-evaluated for ways to "fix" it, but we don't need to throw the baby out with the bath water.
ps
it's amusing that people posting in this thread have gone from thinking I'm "poor" and living off the welfare system to thinking I don't know any poor people at all. lol
Last edited by Perlier; 02-22-2011 at 12:10 PM..
Reason: afterthought
First of all this is just a thread to bait people and really was never meant to have a civilized discussion.
Well, no one wants to discuss any solutions. All people want to do is fingerpoint and blame each other.
I started a "solutions" thread and it grew to a grand total of 4 pages. No one really wants to come up with answers, everyone just wants to sit and accuse everyone else.
If you ask me, that's what the real issue is. Everyone's looking out for themselves and their own best interest, doing nothing to fix the problem at hand, and then blaming everyone else because things keep getting worse.
Also as a percentage of taxes corporate taxes are fairly low in terms of what is actually paid. The tax rate is fictious number that any accountant and tax attorney worth half his or weight easily finds way to reduce with deductions, and depreciation schedules to his or her's clients' advantage.
It's not as easy to hide income as you think it is.
Without the revenue from corporations and the wealthy, where would the social programs that you enjoy so much come from?
My point is that neither side are "blood thirsty".
"Conservatives believe in individual responsibility alone, not social responsibility. They don't think government should help its citizens."
Lots of people believe individuals should help others. And guess, what.... millions of "conservatives" contribute billions of dollars every year to charities that help other people.
Most of those elderly, have worked all their lives, paid into work programs, paid taxes, and earned retirement.
The problem is with the able-bodied young, and not-so-young who never try to pull their own weight, who sit on their arses waiting for handouts.
How about the babies, toddlers and other kids with the misfortune of being born to poor or irresponsible parents? Should the government let them starve, freeze to death and go without medical or dental care?
Do you have any numbers for me regarding how many people receive welfare as well as numbers, even estimates, of people who basically scam the system?
I would say that the system is not broken if it provides for people who really need the services. It could certainly be re-evaluated for ways to "fix" it, but we don't need to throw the baby out with the bath water.
ps
it's amusing that people posting in this thread have gone from thinking I'm "poor" and living off the welfare system to thinking I don't know any poor people at all. lol
It isn't a scam. People are legally qualifying for services and getting them. It doesn't always mean they should be. I have a feeling that you won't know what I'm talking about. It provides for people who qualify. Are they people that need it? Most of the time, no.
How about the babies, toddlers and other kids with the misfortune of being born to poor or irresponsible parents? Should the government let them starve, freeze to death and go without medical or dental care?
People shouldn't let them starve. People have been providing for others long before government did.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
