Convince them how? "We are going to take away this program on which you've relied for 40 years to show you how you can do it on your own." Yeah, great plan. That'll fly as well as a brick. How about we say, "Here, here's what you need to get back on your feet. Now that you are back on your feet, use these resources to STAY on your feet, as this program has a life of 6 months." Then, when the time's up, the program ends and they are still standing.
So six months is the magic number? How do you justify that? Aren't you still taking away a program on which they've relied for 40 years? If people have been living off the labor of others for 40 years, do you honestly believe you can change their worldview in 6 months?
How can the guy that makes $5.15 enter the ownership society if he can't even pay his rent (based on the gov't handout mindset)? We SHOW him how, by helping him TEMPORARILY, OUR way.
What you are essentially saying is that people can't make it without government. You and the socialists both believe that government is the answer. You also have no regard for the Constitution or the concept of limited government.
You're right--platitudes about "smaller government" are a much better way to change minds... I *suggested* 6 months--that is hardly what will work, nor is it what is proposed. It is an "example"...
Nonsense, nonsense, platitude... What I am saying is that for 60 years people have been told they can't do it without the gov't, and it is, therefore, our task to play within those limits. You can spout as many mantras about socialism and limited gov't, but the fact remains that people need tangible, noticeable effects. So, how do you accomplish that? Yank the rug from under them in the name of "states rights"? No, you work within the constraints we have in order to accomplish the larger good--"you gotta give a little...take a little..."
We didn't set the rules, so we must abide by them, but we also have the opportunity to rewrite them.
You fail to get that we must work within the framework to change the framework. You have to change hearts and minds more than policy--change the hearts and minds and the policy will follow. But empty platitudes do more harm than good, as people instintively associates (remember, they are within the framework, and have been for 60 years) that "smaller government" means "you don't get any help from the government whatsoever--you are on your own." Whether that is the truth or not is irrelevant--that is what they hear. So, we must work within the framework..
Call it "viral." This idea is a virus to socialism, and, as you know, viruses work from within to destroy--they don't sit outside the body and harp about how the body should get sick...