I am getting mixed messages about the state of social assistance programs in the USA. All I can say is that social assistance programs, from what I can see, work reasonably well. They help a lot of people out for a short time and are not conducive to turning many of this short-term help into long term dependancy.
Yes, there is dependency. But when I see that, the recipient is just not able to hold on to any kind of job. For example, I have a friend with some mental issues. He has found a little niche for delivering papers in the early morning. He is working by himself and likes the early bird lifestyle. But that job does not pay enough for him to live. Social assistance makes up the rest.
Social assistance in Canada is not longer a political issue. Even conservatives seem to value it.
If social assistance is not working in the USA, then maybe USA should look at what other countries are doing.
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Your strong/weak/good/bad man theorem sounds like an excuse for Mr. Trump. I find it strange that many conservatives would be riled up if this pussy-grabbing man was somehow appointed to being the high school principal where they are sending their teenage daughters. Yet he can be president of the USA. I just don't understand this paradox.
USA has 330m people. Surely it could find someone of morals and ethics that can do the job. I'm not on top of US politics, but this John Kasich fellow seems like a reasonable politician. Why didn't the R's choose him over Mr. Trump in 2016?
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Yes, some conservatives are generous. But they don't have the monopoly on this virtue. And some are tightfisted like hell. I don't think we should steorotype either conservatives or liberals an this trait.
Likewise, I don't think we should stereotype parenting style as conservative or liberal either. I can see both great and lousy parents on both sides of this spectrum.
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If we do move something like social assistance into the realm of private philanthropy, I would say there would be much less money going to helping others (despite the generosity of conservatives) and the help would not be designed very well. Poverty is a strange ailment that self-reliant people just do not understand.
Sorry, many people on long term social assitance today would just not find and keep a job if their welfare check disappears. The social cost would be greater than a welfare check. But if one has an attitude of "fuck the poor," it's quite easy to dismiss them as less than human.
More people living on the street. Like feral dogs. But I guess that is what you want.
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There is a quote from the Bible about the sins of the father lasting four generations. Coming from a broken home affects one's psyche for adulthood, and that psyche often gets passed down.
As someone coming from a conservative and somewhat broken home, I know the cycle of family dysfunctionality. My greatgrandfather spent two years in a Russian POW camp in WW1 and came back a broken man. That seems to have been passed down. My siblings have more or less conquered our trauma, but I'm not sure we have recovered completely. The good news is that we are not passing down our abusive parenting style.
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Yes, we should be raising better kids. Self-reliance is an important virtue. But the solution is not wishing we should all be conservative.
