I am glad that you are finally sharing your true colors. I think that you are getting confused as to where you are posting. To me that sounds like you are advocating for socialism and big government entitlement programs... and not just the “itty bitty” ones. I firmly believe it is entitlement programs and social engineering that is destroying our country. The United States has prospered because it was founded largely on the concept of freedom and personal responsibility.
If you want to make fun of my efforts to help those around me even in jest... I couldn't actually give a damn. I haven't done anything for your approval or anyone elses or for “scripture”. What I have done has been merely for the sake of basic human kindness. I have found that when I do something kind it tends to inspire others to do the same.
I enjoy helping people and am fortunate enough to be in a profession where the government pays me to do it. I do go above and beyond to the point where at times I have been chastised by my coworkers, but don't think that I do not recognize the irony in our conversation. But it is my experiences working with the people that you think of as “poor” that has shaped my opinion. You are dead wrong... government programs don't help poor people. People help poor people government programs enslave them... even the “itty bitty” ones.
You appear confused about the definition of socialism. The label Socialism doesn't mean any and everything that you disagree with.
Socialism is about collective ownership of the means of production. Nothing we've said here is socialism. A tax on a free enterprise system is not socialism. Neither is a program to help the poor.
I firmly believe it is entitlement programs and social engineering that is destroying our country."
Well I firmly believe that some safety nets are good for our country. They encourage risk taking, they shore up areas of the economy hit by temporary economic disruptions, they keep people from starving when we do stupid thing like lower our import tariffs and export our jobs overseas, or lower the bank reserve ratios to 1% so there is no room to respond to a liquidity crisis without the President going to the nation and asking for massive loans and shocking consumer psychology, etc.
Entitlement programs destroying our country. No.
Medicare, Social Security, and SS Disability are merely insurance programs. Government run insurance programs, but insurance programs, nonetheless. People paid their premiums through taxes, now they are "entitled" to the insurance benefit. You can question the wisdom of government being in these programs. You can question whether they are being managed prudently. But that's what they are, and they aren't destroying our country.
Food Stamps, Unemployment, Lifeline phones, Medicaid are welfare type programs for the poor. They are a fundamental government responsibility. Our Colonial states had programs for the poor, and we still have programs for the poor. They need to be managed well so that fraud is prevented. And they need to be balanced. We can't spend all our money on the poor. But we don't need to let them starve either.
Social Engineering. That term is so broad, I don't really know what you mean by that. I have my own list of "social engineering" programs I'd like to see changed.
"I enjoy helping people and am fortunate enough to be in a profession where the government pays me to do it."
So you're out of a job if we adopt the libertarian shirking attitude and get out of the helping the poor through government business? Well that is ironic. But your job is safe with me. I'm not in favor of cutting aid to the poor. I'm in favor of helping them up with a job, but not knocking the floor out from under them and letting them hang. Get the economy rolling and there is no need for as much aid. That's the way to cut.