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Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,691,371 times
Reputation: 3587
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88
Until a year ago, I lived in a medium sized city (I will not identify it, for its own protection) that had hundreds of "homeless" teens. There is a municipal shelter for homeles teens, that is currently expanding to over 100 beds. This is a city of less than 100,000 people. In addition to those in the shelter, there are coultless teens who are, temporarily or permanantly, living with the families of their school friends. Just taken in as a gesture of good will and benefaction. This has actually become a way of life in this city, where it is widely recognized and generally sanctioned by the populace. The city has a very low crime rate, and teens generally are pretty good about staying out of trouble.
By the way, another forward-looking aspect to this city. The public school system has established, free of charge, day-care for any girl who gives birth to a child before she graduates from high school and who wishes to continue her education. She is free, during school hours, to visit her child in the daycare center, which is located in the high school.
The median income in this city is 5K below the state median. Yet, the people are more than willing to direct their tax dollars to what they see as worthwhile social expenditures.
They need to be rounded up off the streets and taken into a homeless teen campus and made to live as teenagers and attend school everyday.
Your post describes a socialized country, particularly, any of the Scandinavian countries. This is known as "cradle to grave" government care. This may work well in a socialized country because of it's size and homogeneous population, but socialism will not work in a capitalistic society such as the US. Should Nobama-Biden be elected to the White House, Americans will get a bitter taste of just how socialism is dysfunctional in a capitalistic country.
So what do you suggest we do with the teenage mothers who make a mistake? Just wondering what your solution is, because basically it sounds like you don't want the government stepping in at all. Should they just get abortions?
If the day care center at the public high school was privately funded, would that be ok with you? or would that still be socialist?
So what do you suggest we do with the teenage mothers who make a mistake? Just wondering what your solution is, because basically it sounds like you don't want the government stepping in at all. Should they just get abortions?
If the day care center at the public high school was privately funded, would that be ok with you? or would that still be socialist?
I wasn't questioning the efficacy of remedies for teen and unwanted pregnancies, I was comparing the solution to the remedies in place in socialist countries. There is a huge parting of the seas between socialist and capitalistic countries. The Scandinavian countries have had socialist forms of government for many decades, that's where the "cradle to the grave" concept of government care comes into play. Socialistic governments and social care work well in countries with a homogeneous (not diverse) and limited population, like Denmark or Sweden. Realize that the tax rate in such countries exceeds 50% across the entire population as taxes are the means to fund the social welfare system. The US is a capitalistic country with capitalism as its driving force, it also has a diverse population exceeding 300 million persons. Even the former Soviet Union discovered that imposing socialism on a diverse and large population will not sustain itself in the long run. An unyielding and grossly inefficient and ineffective bureaucracy led to the break up of the Soviet Union into more manageable, and in many cases, independent and capitalistic republics. Russia's latest incursion into Georgia is Putin's way of trying to resurrect the old Soviet Union, it will fail miserably.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,691,371 times
Reputation: 3587
Quote:
Originally Posted by supernerdgirl
So what do you suggest we do with the teenage mothers who make a mistake? Just wondering what your solution is, because basically it sounds like you don't want the government stepping in at all. Should they just get abortions?
If the day care center at the public high school was privately funded, would that be ok with you? or would that still be socialist?
Both the private and government sectors should step in and help these kids. One is not mutually exclusive to the other as President Obama made clear in the Saddleback interview. We need to have day care centres in schools and ranch style shelters for teens that cannot live at home anymore. We are losing a whole bunch of kids we should not be losing.
Your post describes a socialized country, particularly, any of the Scandinavian countries. T
No it doesn't. My post (#9) describes a city in the Unitd States of America, during the second term of the Bush administration, where human beings have taken it upon themselves to behave in a civilized fashion toward other members of their community. And voluntarily dedicate their local tax revenues to objectives consistent with that sensitivity.
I interpret Steve's comments about glamorizing pregnancy to mean that pregnancy is glamorized with little thought given to childrearing. All these Hollywood babies are being raised by nannies, if they're lucky, and by no-one, if they're not.
Safe haven laws have not worked well in Colorado. Babies are still abandoned instead of being taken to the hospital, fire station, etc.
Maybe we need some respite places to drop teens for a few days/weeks!
Well, I don't know what to do to encourage young girls to take advantage of the safe haven laws, but I don't see any argument for eliminating the option either. Maybe there is a lack of education in that these girls don't KNOW about the law?? I dunno.
I understand about the Hollywood babies, but seriously, do teen girls really think that the Hollywood baby thing has ANY basis in reality? I mean, movie stars have been having babies forever. I was a teen girl once. I was stupid enough to think "it won't happen to me" (getting pregnant)... but I was smart enough to understand that if I DID get pregnant and tried to raise my baby it would suck big time. I had no illusions of it being easy or "fun". I knew it would be on me to care for the child and I knew it would make finishing school REALLY hard and I knew my mother would not let me off easy by raising the child for me.
Which is why, when I *did* get pregnant at 16, I chose to have an abortion.
Both the private and government sectors should step in and help these kids. One is not mutually exclusive to the other as President Obama made clear in the Saddleback interview. We need to have day care centres in schools and ranch style shelters for teens that cannot live at home anymore. We are losing a whole bunch of kids we should not be losing.
Being a little presumptive, aren't we? Judging by your spelling of "centres", I'll presume that you're Canadian or live in another socialist country like the UK? Day care centers in schools and ranch style shelters for teens, yep..., that will fix the ills of society on the backs of the taxpayers! How about we take care of our own problems and leave the government to clean up their own mess? Would that not be a better response to teen age pregnancies and teen homelessness rather than turning the government into "Daddy daycare"?
Well, I don't know what to do to encourage young girls to take advantage of the safe haven laws, but I don't see any argument for eliminating the option either. Maybe there is a lack of education in that these girls don't KNOW about the law?? I dunno.
I understand about the Hollywood babies, but seriously, do teen girls really think that the Hollywood baby thing has ANY basis in reality? I mean, movie stars have been having babies forever. I was a teen girl once. I was stupid enough to think "it won't happen to me" (getting pregnant)... but I was smart enough to understand that if I DID get pregnant and tried to raise my baby it would suck big time. I had no illusions of it being easy or "fun". I knew it would be on me to care for the child and I knew it would make finishing school REALLY hard and I knew my mother would not let me off easy by raising the child for me.
Which is why, when I *did* get pregnant at 16, I chose to have an abortion.
Did you have the Internet and all these "social networking" web sites where you can brag about getting pregnant, just like the mindless Hollywood celebrities, and then get encouragement to be irresponsibly pregnant by your peers? Technology and the the Internet have turned social norms on their heads and society is bearing the consequences for the over indulgences of the terrible role models present in the media. Take a look at some of the "reality shows" on TV, I've never seen such an example of low life, self-degrading crap in my life, especially for young women of color. The language and activities are absolutely disgusting and self-destructive! And why are teens getting pregnant and becoming homeless, much of the blame lies at the feet of the scum bag media types making a $$$ on the gratuitous actions of young women!
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