Fix to the Economy

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will live a lifetime. Social welfare was meant to be a hand up, not a lifestyle. America was created to give everyone an equal chance to have the lifestyle they can envision. Not to give them the lifestyle, but to give the OPPORTUNITY to move ahead. Oftentimes, there has not been a level playing field, and that is part of what Johnson sought to amend. But we now see the end result of social engineering without God. It brings out the worst in people and now we have an entire class of people who expect to be fed, housed, and have a color TV given to them. Abortion and the pill have lead to broken family structure where the man feels no responsibiltiy to the children he fosters and the woman expects the "Great Society" to take care of her...even if she has octuplets! Government was never meant to be the"Great Mother." By usurping Society's responsibilties ( caring for our neighbors, keepiing our communities clean and liveable, providing jobs and recreational activities) and failing in its own duties (protecting us from predatory business practices, criminals and foreign powers, lackluster schools) Government has done us a great disservice. Sadly, the social engineers are back in power, but I don't think they have a clue.

Abortion and the pill have lead to broken family structure where the man feels no responsibiltiy to the children he fosters and the woman expects the "Great Society" to take care of her.

PPPPLLLLLLEEeeaase. Abortion and the pill have had nothing to do with that. That is beyond stupid. Human beings have been lazy, liars, self serving, self involved, etc for eons. That leads to the broken family! To think the broken family is something that is new for this century is just ignorant.

And really welfare began with FDR in US.

Yes, Betty, these problems have always been around, but when, exactly, did they become such a supreme social issue? When did you have such a soaring divorce rate? When did the number of unwed mothers, single parent homes, large prison populations start? 1850's? I don't think so. 1795? no way. 1964? more like it. It is you who are either ignorant or blind. You may not like what I have to say, but instead of calling people stupid, you might try offering up another explanation....if you have one. But then, we were talking about Welfare, not abortion, weren't we?

For most of history a man could easily get rid of his wife any time he wanted. Or just ignore her and do whatever he wanted. Depends which part of history and which culture you're talking about. Wifes have been set aside all through history. And getting married in the 12th as compared to the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th all meant pretty much the same thing....you were a possession for your husband, it was very rarely for love. Marriage as an intuition in itself has only started turning around in recent centuries. Having a horrible marriage has always been around. Makes divorce look like a good option now.

As far as the pill I wish more people took advantage of these instead of having children they cannot afford. I'm tired of paying for them. I have no idea why people feel they have to have children. Why don't people try being married for 7 to 10 years before having kids....at least by then you should know if you're all in and what marriage is really about.

Seriously study your history, not just this century and the previous one you were born in. People always think the times they live in are the worst, especially bible thumpers. But the truth is horrific things have been going on all through time. I'd much much rather be living now then any other time.

It seems to me that those who tout god as the answer are EXACTLY the same as those who tout government as the answer. Both of them are afraid that you may find the real answer to improving yourself lies within you. If you discover that you don't need them and that makes them powerless. So they often rule with fear versus reason making promises they rarely are able to keep.

I see very little difference betwen religion and politics...historically they were one in the same and I still don't see much difference. The politicians rule you with the threat of instant punishment for non-compliance and religion threatens you with punishment after your death. At least in the US we are free to believe or not believe in any religion we choose, we unfortunately don't have the ability to not comply with the politicians and the way they spend our tax money. I guess at the end of the day I feel that too much religion OR government at the expense of the individual is a VERY bad thing.

Sean

The problem has less to do with loss of faith than it has to do with loss of personal responsibility and accountability for our lives. People are no longer rewarded for making smart decisions in their lives and they are not allowed to fail if they make poor decisions. The government will force those who make smart decisions to subsidize those who make poor decisions.

This leads to mediocrity for all. It's like the public school system. Children who did not make the grade were put back and repeated the material. Now that is considered too traumatic, better to graduate illiterate students.

I think that Jews, Christians and Muslims have had thousands of years to correct the shortcomings of mankind and have failed miserably. Time to move over and give the Pastafarians a chance.

http://www.venganza.org/
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=43272&in_page_id=2

Betty & Sean~ I agree with both of you! mankind has done a pitiful job of it for most of human history. My frustration is with our current society and its specific way of doing things wrong. We have far too much government meddling in our lives trying to do things it was never meant to do. As for religion, far too much evil has been done in the name of one religion or another. That doesn't change who God is, or what He is doing in our lives. Relationship with God is personal. Religions are all man made constructs to try to understand Him. Most of the time, they get it wrong, too.

God is a man made construct. Look how many different gods man has created through out history.

10 reasons why beer is better than god?
10. No one will kill you for not drinking beer.
9. Beer doesn't tell you how to have sex.
8. Beer has never caused a major war.
7. They don't force beer on minors who can't think for themselves.
6. When you have beer, you don't knock on people's doors trying to give it away.
5. Nobody's ever been burned at the stake, hanged, or tortured to death over his brand of beer.
4. You don't have to wait 2,000+ years for a second beer.
3. There are laws saying that beer labels can't lie to you.
2. You can prove you have a beer.
1. If you have devoted your life to beer, there are groups to help you stop.

I know this is off topic, but since Octomom was brought up, oh well I have to share this:

Deny's has a new breakfast plate called the Octomom.

It is 8 eggs, no sausage, a baster full of gravy, and the guy next to you pays for it.

I know, I know, a terrible joke...

Bombi, "The problem of social welfare began with Lyndon Johnson's Great Society."

With all due respect, some of us believe that "social welfare" is not a problem, but an obligation of being part of the human community.

I spend a lot of time in East Africa. My brothers and sisters in that part of the world truly believe, "It takes a village to raise a child." In our home, there are always little ones who may or may not be part of the biological family. But they need a Mama and Baba, so there they are.

They get food and clean water and a clean bed with a roof over the heads. More importantly, they get respect.

We can learn a lot from our African heritage.

Edward, I believe we are talking about a different view on social welfare. I agree about the obligation of being part of the human community however, the great society didn't support that, it did nothing to support family values and creating and valuing respect.
It gave women an incentive to have children out of wedlock and men an incentive for not being a father and present in the house hold.

Antia nailed it with her something is worth nothing. It has no value when there is no effort.

Yes we can learn much from the African heritage and it's history but in the world we live in it can take generations to instill and embrace new values. Social and faith based organizations have the best change of effecting change, also music. I wish Bob was still on the earth.