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Your statement is a sweeping one with your assumption that no one cares about the general state of spending.
I'm totally down for reforming every program, military or otherwise, that wastes my tax dollars.
But, and you even said it yourself, that's not what this thread is about. So if you would prefer to talk about that portion of it, there are probably threads dedicated to it.
They don't. There are scant few threads that highlight fraudulent military spending or government contracts, and you can damn sure bet there are even fewer conservatives who comment about this fraud.
Now, this is not about government waste, it is about hatred of poor people. There are much larger programs with much more waste than the food stamp program.
Ok there is a landlord, that says to tenants if you tend my garden around my property, I will take $100 dollars a month off in rent.
Now the landlord can either wait till the end of the year and right a check for $1200 or the landlord can take the $100 dollars upfront off the monthly rent. Either way, whether the landlord mails a check or not, the landlord is spending $1200.
The federal government works the same way. As tax payers we owe taxes by law. To OWE means the money doesn't belong to you. Ok, this is no semantics, but reality.
The government is owed taxes, if the federal government collected all taxes owed and then mailed out checks based on the various tax deductions, breaks, credits, that is the same thing as the federal government not collecting those taxes in the first place. Either way the government is spending.
The money belongs to me. The debt the government incurs also belongs to me, because the government spends money on my behalf. I agree to taxes so that the government will have the funds to spend on my behalf. But that does not mean that I don't have the right to scrutinize or criticize how the government expends those funds. Since it is on my behalf, I certainly do have the right to scrutinize or criticize. That's the entire point of demanding that the government be transparent. Because the government represents me, and you, and each of us. And when someone or something represents ME, I have an interest in how it does so, what it does, and why it does what it does. The government isn't separate from the people. It's an extension of the people. When it wages war in Afghanistan, it's doing so on behalf of the people. Not all the people may want to wage war, but it's still representing those people. When it sends money and aid to Japan after a devastating tsunami, it's doing so on behalf of the people. When it sends money to a mother and her two daughters and grandchild in Spring Hill, FL, it's doing so on behalf of the people of the United States.
You know when Colonel Jessup/Jack Nicholson tells the courtroom that the people should not question how he provides them with security, but he would rather they just thank him for doing so. Well, that's how the bureaucrats in charge of these programs feel. But we the people don't agree. In our system of government, the government is answerable to the people. And that's what is being said on this thread. It's not that people hate the poor, or that they hate the government. The comments, yours and theirs, are what's supposed to happen. We the people are the government, indirectly through our representatives, and so we engage in ongoing debate about what government should and should not be doing.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
3,997 posts, read 4,146,850 times
Reputation: 2677
Quote:
Originally Posted by Soup Sandwich
If Iamme73 had a dollar for every time he/she said "I don't care" while complaining that Conservatives don't care, he/she wouldn't need food stamps for a month.
But bet he/she would TAKE it... because the governments paying for it....
CNN Sob Story: "Our Family Will Lose $44 in Food Stamps"
Interesting. During the summer of '73 or '74 in med school there was no food service at my dorm. I was stuck on the west side of Chicago in training without any income, or any sensible place to eat aside from my dorm room. So I was told to apply for food stamps. For $33 I got $44 worth of food stamps each month during that summer.
I am not so much concerned with fraud, as I am on how low the bar is set for people to obtain these benefits.
Just look on the CNN headlines today; family with three adults, one pregnant and one kid, living off of $800 a month stamps, with they say is not enough, and crying over it getting cut to $756.
Now, tell me how in the heck that family cannot manage to live off of $756 a month food stamps? And tell me why in the heck there are three adults, yet all three find some great excuse on how they are incapable of working; and tell me why is a person getting pregnant when they know darn well they cannot afford to without assistance of the tax payers?
$756 dollar a month for 5 people is $4.97 a whole 24hr day per person for food. That might be a little tight don't you think?
You're right, they do have individual free choice and liberty to sleep with whomever they want, but don't expect us to pay for it while they get to be stay-at-home moms (something many of us didn't get to do even with husbands). The taxpayer is not the baby daddy.
I know it's complicated, but being poor does not mean you get to make poor choices and everyone else gets to pay for it. Pregnancy is preventable. Use a condom, get birth control pills, or even abstain from having sex. To me, the worst thing about welfare is that it allows people to be irresponsible. I don't mind someone with a family getting welfare if they fall on hard times, but it should be temporary until that person can get a good job.
I have a friend whose daughter had a baby at 19 and got on Medicaid, Section 8 housing, WIC, food stamps, the whole bit. She's always used the excuse of having a baby to not work. I don't know why she couldn't get a job at a daycare or something, but she acted like that was impossible. Now her kid is in kindergarten, and she's still making excuses for not working. Welfare has robbed this now 25 year old of her future. She has no skills and no drive. And so the cycle begins.
I think we all know people like this in our lives. It's always an excuse, or someone elses fault. Unfortunately when you criticize them you're considered hateful. I mean the thought of actually using a means to protect yourself from having kids when you can't afford them???? I guess that is too much to ask?
The difference between me and those people is that I have made bad choices but don't expect anyone else to foot the bill.
Everything else you've mentioned is irrelevant seeing that I am self-sufficient and I am the only one dealing with said choices. Sure her father is a douche and I never saw it coming but those were the cards I was dealt with and I am making the most of it with the money - I - earn. It s very little but it is temporary. Soon enough I will be in law school and the rest will be history.
I don't regret any of it. I have always wanted to be successful in life and my daughter gave me even more drive to keep going and to be something great because she will have to rely on me since her father decided not to take care of his responsibilities.
I am going to look back one day and breathe a sigh of relief. This will all be water under the bridge.
I wish more people are like you. Your daughter has a good example of what a strong woman is.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
3,997 posts, read 4,146,850 times
Reputation: 2677
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tassy001
Iamme, does not care. According to Iamme, this fraud you speak of....does not exist.
I know.... everytime Iamme says "I don't care" we take a drink... Hell.. won't take but about 3 more posts and we won't care about anything either... (thus he/she will be right for a change!!)
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I wish more people are like you. Your daughter has a good example of what a strong woman is.
