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This.^^^^ I used to be a liberal until I was unemployed and saw the effects of dependency in my own life. It nearly destroyed me. I was on unemployment for 99 weeks because I didn't want to take a job that paid less than my unemployment. I was afraid to work part-time because once again, I was afraid of losing those benefits. Bottom line, the government had total control of my life. I lost my purpose in life and considered suicide because it was tough when I lost my benefits. I didn't know what to do without them because working for a living was so foreign to me.
It wasn't until I received counseling from a conservative organization(my church) that I was able to go back to work. My church really encouraged me and if it were their help, I probably wouldn't be here right now. I am now setting goals for myself, have purchased a car, and am a whole lot happier than I was while on government assistance. I really regret going on unemployment because I pretty much stopped living when I started depending on government, but I am living again.
That is awesome for you!
Conservatism, the way I understand it, also helped me.
However, because I now know why my family could not teach me these values and because I now know why it is not easy to pass these values on to my family, I am sympathetic to people who struggle. I am also sympathetic to people who work hard to pass on these values to their families.
I think what some people may be angry about is that whole concept of teaching a man to fish instead of giving him a fish. Sometimes it is okay to give fish. Sometimes, the man doesn't want to fish. Sometimes, it is okay to not give fish as well.
It occurs to me that people who don't want their tax dollars to support food for others-- on the off chance that those other might be lazy-- are not so much conservative, as they are selfish.
Today is Thanksgiving, and I have seen more repulsive posts about the supposed ner-do-wells who are leaching off the system, and complete ignorance of the hundreds of thousands of children who are fed from school lunch programs and food stamps... It really gives me a depressed view of humanity. It seems the RWNJ's have no sense of community, no sense of humanity. It's always about "me" and taking care of yourself and no mention of assisting in the care of others....
I'm sure this post will be lambasted by the usual suspects with faux-intellectual justifications for their selfishness-- But in the end, that's all it is. "I want more for me and you're on your own." Selfishness. And it's sad.
I'd much rather have my tax dollars support food for poor children than war. I wish churches spent less money on fighting boys kissing and more on housing for the indigent.
This is Thanksgiving. Before you repsond with your usual justifications and screeds about "liberals", stop and think. I wonder if the spirit of the holiday might give you pause and perhaps catalyze a change of heart.
Do you have any blankety idea which party gives the most to Chartiy or have you ever watched the Republican as well as Democrats working the food banks in your community? Well I have and believe me, there are no shortage of Conservatives helping feed those who can not afford to buy food. Do you have any idea how hard the work of filling sacks for hours can be or do you also work at a food bank? What about hospital volunteers, and others, do you think only the liberals give their time. Have you checked to see whether Obama or Romney gave the most to charity last year and how about Biden, what % did he give? if you posted to **** a conservative off, you accomplished your goal cause that is me!!!
The difference between conservatives and liberals, conservatives want to know where their hard earned money is going, they don't want to just shell it over to the government; liberals want to let the government decide and they hope the government will give some of that money to them.
You posts comes from a sad, dark world of delusion, non-fact, spin, projection and just plain lies. Capitalism is the only force for true prosperity that is shared among all who Wish to Participate. However, it takes effort, sustained effort, to participate, which is too much, I see, for so many who opt out for the opium of OPMl
You are obviously skipping over the parts of my posts you don't like. I have consistently used the term "regulated" which you choose to ignore for some reason.
The republican embrace of laissez faire capitalism is what caused the crash of 2008, yet you insist on blaming democrats. I don't know if that is delusional or just dishonest.
I have no idea. I was writing about some of the posts that preceded mine in which the posters were quite explicit about what they believe. I don't have time right now to go back and check if you were one of them.
And often those opinions were immediately followed by a characterization of liberalism, stated as fact, that I don't recognize, believe or follow. Much easier to demonize the other side when you just make up stuff about them.
The decline in the poverty rate stabilized and reversed itself. The U.S. poverty rate was in sharp decline in the early 1960s -- before the Great Society.
Totally wrong; poverty declined DURING the Great Society. In fact the period of the Kennedy-Johnson Administrations was the greatest decline poverty of any presidential administrations since 1960. In your chart shows the decline in poverty during the 1960s.
Overall since the 1960s Republican President administrations have been much better at reducing poverty than Republican ones.
All stats courtesy of U.S. Census Bureau:
Bush 43
Americans Below The Poverty Level
2001 - 32.907 million 2008 - 39.829 million - increase 21.04%
Overall Population Growth
2001 - 281.475 million 2008 - 301.041 million - increase 6.95%
During the Bush 43 Administration poverty INCREASED three times faster than rate of population growth.
Clinton
Americans Below The Poverty Level
1993 - 39.265 million 2000 - 31.581 million - decrease 19.57%
Overall Population Growth
1993 - 259.278 million 2000 - 278.944 million - increase 7.58%
During the Clinton Administration poverty DECREASED 2.5 faster than the population grew.
Reagan
Americans Below The Poverty Level
1981 - 31.822 million 1988 - 31.745 million - decrease 0.24%
Overall Population Growth
1981 - 227.157 million 1988 - 243.53 million - increase 7.21%
During the Reagan Administration poverty was relatively flat compared to population growth.
Nixon-Ford
Americans Below The Poverty Level
1969 - 24.147 million 1976 - 24.975 million - increase 3.43%
Overall Population Growth
1969 - 199.517 million 1976 - 212.303 million - increase 6.41%
During the Nixon - Ford Administrations poverty INCREASED about half as fast as the population grew.
Kennedy-Johnson
Americans Below The Poverty Level
1961 - 39.628 million 1968 - 25.389 million decrease 35.93%
Overall Population Growth
1961 - 181.277 million 1968 - 197.628 million increase 9.02%
During the Kennedy-Johnson Administration poverty DECREASED about four times faster than the population grew.
You are obviously skipping over the parts of my posts you don't like. I have consistently used the term "regulated" which you choose to ignore for some reason.
The republican embrace of laissez faire capitalism is what caused the crash of 2008, yet you insist on blaming democrats. I don't know if that is delusional or just dishonest.
You are projecting again. Gets some facts, not propoganda, and then come back, or not
No one denies these these people the need. It's the other 40-70% or so who refuse to help themselves. We only can take X dollars to feed the hungry. The ones that could work should work and provide for themselves. There are way to many who won't work but could.
Is it not selfish for there to be a 70% out of wedlock birthrate and expect others to support your babies ?
Is a single mother that works two jobs to support herself and her kids and needs food stamps to get by "Refusing to help herself"?
Is 45 year-old factory worker that's work the same job for 15 years that gets laid off and on unemployment insurance "Refusing To Help Himself".
If a 30 year old Iraq War Vet has PTSD can't hold a job and is homeless do you let him go homeless for "Refusing to help himself".
The more sh*t I hear from Conservatives the I realize there is no end to the depths of selfishness and lack of compassion for people in this economy that have been seriously affected by the worse economic downturn since the Great Depression.
You are projecting again. Gets some facts, not propoganda, and then come back, or not
You seem to use the term "projecting" totally out of context. Do you even know what it means??
There was no "projecting" in my post, I stuck to issues.
So here's some more on the subject. For one, are you denying that Ayn Rand objectivism is the doctrine of today's republican leaders like Paul Ryan who admitted to it? He used to give copies of the novel to his interns for Christmas.
Rand's model for the human ideal society was akin to the animal herd, where the "superior animal" survived and rose to control, while the weak and sick were left to die off for "the good of the whole". This was considered the "natural order" and "individualism". Objectivism, through long convoluted reasoning, makes a virtue of selfishness and it rejects religion of any kind (including Christianity). This post is mainly about that, but there's plenty more to come about "conservatism", or the perversion thereof by today's right wing.
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Much easier to demonize the other side when you just make up stuff about them.
