Professor X wrote:
“JPBear, I don’t have the opinion that any civilization will be able to get rid of poverty. In any society, you have rich and you have poor. I don’t understand what you mean by “what I am advocating”. I have stated that wellfare does not need to be done away with. You are saying this is wrong and it should be?”
Yes, this is what I am saying. I realize it is an extreme stance and that it will never happen, but we are not drafting policy here, we are just throwing around opinions, and this is mine. But it is just like my other opinions on how to fix the world. They all fit together like a big puzzle. In Jessicaland, everything will need to be reformed.
“I agree with what Boston wrote earlier. I do not think the wellfare system should be used like a tent to live under but more like a safety net.”
Unfortunately, there is no way you can prevent this. It is not that Native Americans are bad people. It’s not that there are a few dishonest and lazy people out there ruining Welfare for everyone else. The system itself breeds the self defeating attitude of entitlement that in turn feeds the original problem. The fact that you don’t think the welfare system should be a tent to live under will not stop it from being that. Also, if you haven’t noticed, a government bureaucracy will inevitably do ridiculous things with its funding. That is the nature of the beast. So even if say a cow jumps over the moon and only the truly needy access welfare programs, the government bureaucracy will still squander away half your tax dollars helping them.
“Are you about to give some solution for how the system should be run?”
Yes, I think I did. There would be no system. “Welfare” has not always been a state responsibility. For most of history, that job was left up to very capable and compassionate individuals. (In theory, the government has put those tax dollars back in our pockets so we are more equipped to do this). It amazes me that people assume that if the government does not provide a safety net for those who truly need it, those people will simply do without. How sad that we have come to view ourselves this way. I am going to suggest that people are still capable and willing to help our fellow citizens in their times of true need. I am also going to suggest that individuals will be far more capable than government at preventing the abuse of this private system.
“You talk about giving people freedom…”
My point was that all Americans already have enough freedom to succeed. America is the land of the free remember?
“but you fail to realize that freedom is not the problem when it comes to the poor. Often, opportunity is.”
If opportunity is the culprit, then why do so many fail to take the opportunity handed to them on a silver platter? Why do all our best intended programs to extend equal opportunity fail over and over again? I don’t think it has anything to do with opportunity; it has to do with desire and motivation. For those who don’t care much about advancing themselves, motivation will usually suffice. For example, starving to death with no one to feel sorry for you is a heck of a good motivator to go work at McDonalds.
“Unless you are about to explain how you will allow everyone in poverty the same opportunities for education, career, and status,”
I would not need to allow them this because nobody is entitled to an education, a rewarding career, or any kind of status. They are free to pursue those things though. There is a big difference.
“I don’t understand why you directed that post at me. It seems you have misunderstood what I have written.”
I’m sorry if I have misunderstood you. I don’t think we are seeing eye-to-eye on this topic however. I’m not trying to offend you though or attack you. I have this ability to get into vicious debates and yet not take anything personally. I often assume other people are the same way, but I end up pissing people off. I know it can often sound like I am making no distinction between a person and their viewpoint. Something I gotta work on. Sorry.
