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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (140630)	7/12/2010 3:04:25 PM
From: Katelew	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541754

Being out of work is a very painful experience, especially when you have a family. Everyone knows this, and everyone feels sympathy. The disagreement is on how it should be handled by the government. You never did say how far beyond 99 weeks you think unemployment checks should be sent out by the federal government? Because of globalization with the rise of multinational corporations shipping American jobs overseas and because many labor jobs have become mechanized, an economic tremor has shaken the economy and many jobs have fallen into the fissures. Everyone knows this, and everyone feels sympathy. The focus should be on what to do about it. Voters are looking to the administration for remedies, policies for action, not endless explanations of how the country got here. Have you ever considered that they already hit a bottom? Might that and their "ignorance" be one reason for a chip on the shoulder, drugs, alcohol, lack of ambition? I would call it being in the trough. I'm using "hitting bottom" the way psychologists do, referring to the moment of awareness by an individual that only he can turn his life around. Have you ever considered that long-term welfare checks are a form of enabling people to stay in their trough? Lots of books are written about the destructiveness of "enablers"....generally wives, friends, even employers. To some extent, welfare assistance can tip over into that category, too. I've always wondered how those who would agree with you and Q on this question could so easily project their own talents and abilities onto those who fail. We're not all born with the same brains, looks, social skills and health and we're not all raised in circumstances that let us blossom. To lay the same expectations on all us is just silly. It's a little like taking the kid who can't walk and chew gum at the same time and then telling him that the reason he can't win the state title in the hundred yard dash is because he's lazy. I can't speak for Q, but I am fully aware of the inequities of life and they are indeed painful to see. This is the main reason I'm willing to tithe a full 10% of the gross (not the net AGI), and pledge a certain amount of time through the years to help out those with problems, both temporary problems and permanent problems. I have seen with my own eyes and been inside the trailers and shacks where the 'cycle of poverty' is going on, i.e. multi-generational. Sometimes 3-4 generations are even living in the same shack, each having various forms of welfare available to them. Whole groups of people who outwardly seem to have absolutely nothing going for them, and it is incredibly depressing. At the same time through the years I've seen an endless stream of individuals and whole families who outwardly had nothing going for them turn their collective "fate" on its head. Unfortunately one might say, all of these I've personally witnessed involved religion, i.e. a complete capitulation to God for strength and empowerment. Obviously, this can't be turned into some kind of state or fed. program. Maybe diverting some govt. money to the various prison ministries might have merit, but that is probably the only possibility. But I do agree with you in that it is easy and it is a moral trap, of sorts, to extrapolate from one's own intellect and abilities.