If anyone is still actually reading posts, then please read JLN's post above. My post is due to an inability to resist responding to foxfyre's post a few pages back. It reminds me why I seldom post on "political" threads--there are two sides and ne'er the twain shall meet.
Foxfyre posted (leaving out the first sentence),
Quote:"How is it moral to require Citizen A who stayed in school, didn't do drugs or get pregant, learned a trade, and became a useful member of society and prepared for his retirement to support Citizen B who didn't?"
Yes, soccial security does help support people who have been imprisoned for robbery, prostitution, drugs and many other "immoral" acts.
Social security also helps the children of these immoral people. Children who, from the time they are a couple of years old, are prostituted by their parents. Little girls who are clothed in dresses because it makes it easier for men to rape them while mom watches and makes sure the man doesn't leave before paying for the opportunity to rape the child. This same child, when she is older, has to work at a place like McDonalds in order to clothe herself and her younger siblings. She doesn't do well in school because she is tired from working until 11 or 12 at night plus, very possibly, turning tricks. Her father is in prison and mom is a drug addict. Do you have ANY idea how common this is??? I guess this all-too-typical girl isn't raised with a strong moral sense; she only knows what it takes to survive. To me, that is pretty impressive. "Hate the sin, love the sinner???" Oh, god, how I hate that statement, applied to gays and the so-called sinners of the world and used with such self-righteous effect by so many "good" Christians.
Most of us have had to work very hard to reach a level of financial comfort. Many of us have experienced some sort of disaster that takes away much or all of what we worked to hard to attain. Most of us, at least, have had the opportunities to acheive some degree of success. Then there are those whose lives have been one, continuous disaster. Why not provide the sinner with just a small percentage of the opportunities most of us have had? They don't need much more than a decent education and the time to study. Social security won't solve all their incredibly complex problems, but it will give a chance to those who still have the sanity and the will to use the money to their advantage.