Personally, I think anyone who accepts any transfer payment (welfare, food stamps, etc.) must show up everyday at 7AM at a public place and wash floors, sweep streets, clean toilets, etc. I think this workfare system would truly define those who need help versus those who are just getting a free ride.
I also think that, if you don't pay Federal income taxes, you don't vote in Federal elections. Same for state and local. After all, nothing in the game, why should you have a voice in the rules?
Exactly. If you have no skin in the game you should get no vote or say whatsoever. This country was started with the cry of no taxation without representation. Now we have the reverse problem, people who get representation without taxation. If you don’t or didn’t pay, you get no say.
For reasons I don’t understand, we romanticize the poor in this country.
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There seems to be an assumption in some quarters that if you’re poor you must be a virtuous victim of someone else’s greed and avarice. Of course that’s an exaggeration often made for political purposes.
There are two kinds of poor in this country. Those who are poor, but don't live poorly (they work hard, but have no desire for wealth, and just want to be left alone, and live a good life on their terms), and there are those who are "poor" who live their lives with nothing more in mind than their next scam and how to get away with doing nothing. The first group, I have a great deal of respect for, that's how they want it, and they harm no one.
The second group, piss on 'em.