Compassion anyone?

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

I cannot understand this whole SNAP debacle that is being played out and talked about. I do not understand how ANYONE can be against feeding the hungry. I am willing to concede that there will be waste and fraud. I cannot imagine what system(s) would not have *some* waste and fraud. That said, waste and fraud are bad, but, let's not go throwing the baby out with the bath water, eh?

Food is NOT an option for people. Neither is water. These two things are HUMAN RIGHTS as far as I am concerned. Nobody, anywhere, should be deprived of access to food and water. And you know what, these things, in their most basic form (ie. basic food staples, not fancy food feasts), should be free. That's right, free. For *every single person*.

I understand that to some cold-hearted demons out there, people only deserve food and water if they *work* for it. Well fuck that. Work is not the pre-requisite, IMO, for food or water. Those should be denied to NOBODY.

I have a question to ask folks here, and I'm not sure I will be able to stomach the responses, but here goes:

Under what circumstances should a hungry person be denied food/water?

Comments

[paft.livejournal.com]

t: I don't think it's an act of compassion when you're deciding how to spend other people's money

You don't think those of us who advocate for government assistance pay taxes?

You are aware, right, that foodbanks and other such charities are swamped? That they are frequently forced to turn people away? Think things would get better if there were no government aid whatsoever?

[tigron-x.livejournal.com]

No, it's not that you do not pay taxes. It's that you want others to be coerced into funding your resolutions. If you want appropriate representation, then let people decide where their money goes.

I think government allows people to believe a solution has been provided, but instead it creates a dependency on government.

I get the intent. I think the heart is the right place. But I'm not convinced this is a solution to the problem. It's just a way for us to live with the problem while thinking we're good people because we pay taxes.

Let me put it this way. When I pay my taxes, I don't consider it as an act of compassion. When I donate money to people, I am more inclined to consider that as an act of compassion. But, maybe even then I'm just a superficial ass because I am only acknowledging the surface problems.

So maybe we need to set the bar higher? I really don't know what the answer is. But government aid doesn't sound very convincing in the long run.

[paft.livejournal.com]

t: . It's that you want others to be coerced into funding your resolutions.

You talk about the taxes needed to ensure government operates as though they're some megalomaniacal control-freak plot unique to me.

I pay taxes for weapons, wars, etc. that I dislike and consider wastes of money. That's part of the price of living in a society. If you imagine one could function where roads, emergency services, the military, public education, and aid to the poor were funded strictly through private contributions and bake sales, you have little grasp of how complex these tasks are.

t: I think government allows people to believe a solution has been provided, but instead it creates a dependency on government.

When you are hungry, and/or sick, and/or homeless, the government aid provides you with food, shelter, and medical care, then yes, a solution has been provided.

Offering these things to the poor creates less a "dependency on government" than the means to actually pull oneself out of poverty. Not offering these things results in an entire class of people who feel they have zero stake in this society. And that's a very dangerous thing.

[tigron-x.livejournal.com]

I don't consider being forced to fund imperialism is part of the price of living in a society. "Oh, it's so terrible for me to get cheaper gas than everyone else in the world. How dare they demand that from me? Those bastards!"

I realize how much easier it is to live in the empire. I realize how my money goes to make this society better at the expense of others. That's why I find it so ironic when people start claiming you're not compassionate if you don't support government aid to help the poor.

If you support government, then you support all of this. You don't get to cherry pick all the nice things you think government does while ignoring all the other stuff.

[paft.livejournal.com]

t: I don't consider being forced to fund imperialism is part of the price of living in a society. "Oh, it's so terrible for me to get cheaper gas than everyone else in the world. How dare they demand that from me? Those bastards!"

Are you living in a society?

t: That's why I find it so ironic when people start claiming you're not compassionate if you don't support government aid to help the poor.

Do you think the poor would be better off without government aid? I've yet to meet anyone who worked regularly with the poor who thought so.

t: If you support government, then you support all of this.

No, I don't.

Perhaps you should find a remote island somewhere where you could live all by yourself. The problem with living in any community is that you will not always have everything your way.

[tigron-x.livejournal.com]

It's never been my argument that people aren't better off without government aid. I'm just saying that these are ways of living with poverty, not solving them.

And I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

But, this is getting circular.


And, yeah, part of living in a community is that you don't always get your way. But there are also universal principles, and if you violate those, then all you have is mob rule.

[paft.livejournal.com]

t: I'm just saying that these are ways of living with poverty, not solving them.

And how do you advocate solving the problem of poverty?

t: But there are also universal principles, and if you violate those, then all you have is mob rule.

Which is why we have the Bill of Rights.

[tigron-x.livejournal.com]

Don't know. But, I can say that the current monetary monopoly does hinder trade. And the drug war makes a life of crime more appealing.

[paft.livejournal.com]

t: Don't know.

Then what exactly is your point here if you have no alternative to offer?