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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (57312)	8/1/2004 10:05:08 AM
From: Mary Cluney	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793689

<<< We give them a temporary leg up. It's called charity. And we fix the system so it no longer facilitates bad choices for them and for others.>>> As long as we get things fixed, I don't care what you call it. <<<What we don't do is tell them that their bad choices are not their fault and they're entitled to be compensated for them by those who made good choices. Or tolerate a system that squelches productivity to the point where it won't long support the productive let alone the hangers on but still sends a message to potential hangers on that they need not worry about the future because we will love and understand and support them once everything is all screwed up for them. >>> If we can fix things, we don't have to tell these people anything. They will know better. You don't have to be afraid of these people. They can't take care of themselves much less persuade others to be like them. They are not going to take over the world. They are a fraction of the population. Some of these people are there because of bad choices, some are there because they have bad luck, some are just not smart enough, and there some that are just nasty and bad people. We don't need to have a policy where some government official has to judge as to why they are there. I understand you don't like government programs. You think they are a waste, they are inefficient, and others (private enterprise) can do a better job. But as a community, there are certain jobs that we have to give to government. If I were a billionaire, I could probably do a much better job protecting myself with a private security force and I could better educate my children with private tutors. There are some things, however, we have to do as a community. We should try to create as level a playing field as possible. Your fear that welfare receipients will change our society is not warranted. As for how we pay for this, (and purely as an example or even as a quick and dirty straw man) we can all agree that we need a strong military. But as an anti systems management professional you can probably agree with me that creating a huge military requires large systems and that large systems are very difficult to manage. There is a lot of redundency misappropriation, and waste. But, that is after all for national security, and we all agree we need to have it - regardless of the cost. I don't disagree with that at all. All I am saying is that this is America. We can do better. We can have a strong military, and must have a strong military, - but we should also try to be more efficient (its not easy). The nickels and dimes that we can save by making our military more efficient can pay for all welfare receipients to have a luxurious life. I am, of course, not advocating that we do that. I am saying that this is America - all things are possible. We can have a strong military and we can help those that can not help themselves. We don't have to fear that people will think its okay to live on the dole and that they would prefer to live that way way rather to achieve what is achieveable in an America where things get better all the time. We don't have to be small and fearful. Things can get better. This is America.