[quote]Originally posted by Eisenschwarz:
Quote:
Do you not feel that the strong should not aid the weak?
Would there be rich people without poor people?
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Do you not think the welfare state is a good idea?
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1. It's a Master Morality versus Slave Morality thing. In some cultures compassion is a virtue and aiding the weak is good. In others, strength is a virtue, and aiding the weak is against the social order. Nietszche used the Appollonian/Dionysian society structures in Greece, represented by Sparta and Athens, in his examples regarding this in Beyond Good and Evil. I agree with most of what he said there, or at least the parts I understand.
2. Not always. Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was enacted to assist women widowed by WWI. Now it gives low income families reason to not get married, and instead live in adjacent apartments, the monetary benefit of AFDC income more than offsetting the extra rent. Moreover, the dollar-for-dollar benefit loss a single parent experiences with AFDC when he/she takes a job, combined with child care costs, actually make it a LOSS for them to take most average jobs. So, they end up doing under-the-table work, circumventing the system.
And don't get me started on food stamp laundering.
I do not support the welfare state AS IS.
The biggest good thing to happen to welfare in recent years was Clinton's reforms, which force welfare recipients to look for and accept work or get kicked off the system. Welfare should be a SAFETY NET, not a four-generation way of life.