[Bright Eyes]

I seldom post anything, but I will venture in a little with this one. What I have to say may not be exactly centered on what has been said above, but it has got me to thinking.

As a one time serving law enforcement officer now on a disability pension because of my former work, I have some experience with both sides of the fence when it comes to tax-funded relief.

Living on the public purse is no fun, as I have no resources left to me other than what I bought when I was earning money; as such, I am better off than many others, but as the things I own wear out I have found it is becoming increasingly difficult to replace them. The only way I survive at present is by sharing costs with another, even to this modest ISP connection.

Obviously I support the idea of public welfare now, but I did the same when I was working and paying taxes. I used to argue with people about the need to not cheat on taxes and to help those who are in need. While I personally can be motivated to do so out of compassion for those who struggle, there is another reason which I think should play a part in the thinking of those who resent paying to support those who do not work: think about what sort of society we would live in without tax-funded financial support for the poor.

The reality is that the destitute will not roll over and die because they are not wanted, nor will they go away; instead, they must be dealt with. The poor are obliged to resort to other means to stay alive if there is not a government hand out. Add to that the presence of children that need feeding, and the need becomes that much more urgent. I believe that the correlation between poverty and crime has been well demonstrated over the years. It is easy to blame the poor for being lazy and not wanting to work, but this too simplistic to be even close to explaining the reality of the poor.

All our developed nations used to have barbaric policies towards the poor, centered on the notion that the poor were that way because of their own failure to work. The poor were regarded by the prosperous as being violent and diseased and deserving of no compassion and all punishment for being what they were. For example, Britain used to deport men to years of slave labor in Australia for stealing a loaf of bread; yet why was the bread stolen? Often, to feed starving children.

Many advocate an attitude of punishing the poor for being poor. This is reflective of a unreal expectation of what life is really like for some people; yet not every person is able to perform as well as those who are able to work hard and advance in life; and unpalatable fact, but true nonetheless.

I fully understand that those who do work can resent giving hard earned money to others who will not use it wisely. But we live in an imperfect world, and there are no good solutions to this, only worse ones. It is unlikely, however, that if welfare were cut or even erradicated, that it would result in less taxation; in the long run they never cut taxes, they just spend it on other things, so any anticipated benefit personally would almost certainly be left unfulfilled.

European countries generally have better welfare programs than the United States, and the US has better welfare programs than many South American countries. In such countries, the wealthy and the middle class often must live in wealthy ghettos, to isolate themselves from the desperate poor. Is that what we want in our nations? It seems to me that there is real cause and effect here: strangle the poor, and destroy one's own quality of life.

While many of the poor do not use their money wisely, and a few do not want to work, not all of the poor fit these descriptions; indeed, I suspect that most do not. To classify the poor as being such is, I think, a case of woolly thinking.

I have no favor towards socialism, as it is anti-God (as a Christian, this is repugnant to me), but I also have no liking for capitalism, which I find to be equally anti-God. But I do favour mercy towards those who need help, and I don't find blaming the victims to be particularly helpful.

I suppose there will be those who don't agree with me about this, but that's alright; it's not as if it matters. Have a good day.