Posted by AuntieMel on March 10, 2006, at 9:54:03
In reply to Re: Imagine, posted by 838 on March 9, 2006, at 17:55:47
There is a huge difference (in implication, at least) between
"And do I expect the government of my country of citizenship to support me? You bet."
and
"literally only just enough to get your basic needs met. and sometimes... one can struggle even with that... so it is not like people can live happy lives eating out and drinking coffee and driving a car and going to the movies and travelling around the country on welfare"
Big, big difference. When I read the first one I thought "yeah, and I'm paying for it" When I read the second one I thought "well, of course, no one should be allowed to go hungry"I guess the only possible debate we would have would be what a person's "basic needs" are.
Clean clothes that fit - or designer jeans.
Good wholesome food - or steak.
Safe housing - or ...well, you get my drift. And of course there are degrees in between.
And I agree that most would work if they could move their standard of living from column "a" to column "b" - assuming they are healthy enough to work.
I firmly (as you do) believe people need help when they are down. And you will probably find that 99% of Americans feel the same way.
And most Americans would agree that a person not working because of a disability or because they are in a training program should get a better standard of living than column 'a.'
Where Americans disagree - as do most of the world I guess - is *how* that aid is to get to the person needing it.
I'm not one that thinks it should all come from the private sector, but there is a good argument that the private sector is a lot more efficient than the government is. And Americans are, for the most part, very giving people.
Like I said, when Katrina hit NO, there was a line outside the Astrodome of people looking for a family to take in. Other lines with food, clothes, volunteers who only had time. They were turning people and donations away because they had too many? You, literally, had to "know somebody" to be able to get into the dome to help.
Same with many, many other small and large disasters.
Volunteers tutor those who can't read. Build houses for those who need them. Donate to food banks.
In fact we probably give more that way than if they raised taxes to pay for the same things.
The government does have a welfare system, and like you say it doesn't pay much at all. But I think we do a fair job of filling in the gaps.
And we do it without resentment.
poster:AuntieMel
thread:617294
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060304/msgs/618320.html