Helping the poor

[wanabe]

KillerUsagi (Hi and welcome)
~~~If people remembered, then the problem would have been solved by now. If the poor weren't so polite^^^ we would have a harder time forgetting as well.

~~~It is wrong to sweep this under the rug. Can one person who cares eliminate poverty (yes, but who cares that much)?

~~~there should be no surprises of “negative” things coming from poverty.

There is no one solution to solve poverty because it can happen for so many reasons. However there is one solution to solve wealth: generosity. Fighting poverty with greed and tough love hasn't worked yet.
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The Secret To Eternal Life: Live Life To The Fullest, And Help All Others To Do So. Fear is weakness leaving the mind.

[JPhillips]

Belinda

The problem with the strong conservative right is that they have a very strong belief in right wing justice based on moral principles taken directly from the Bible. Dont' bother to tell them they are picking and choosing the scriptures that support the strong conservatism to which they adhere. Only a select few will get to heaven. People who have money deserve it because they work hard to get it. People who don't just have to get off their lazy behinds and work harder. Everything is black and white. You are either for me or you are against me.

The political and religious ideology of the strong conservative right stems from an adherence to strong, traditional upbringing including the belief that the United States is a God fearing nation and our leaders support truth, justice, and the American way. We fight for freedom. Oil has nothing to do with it. The conservative right tend to see the left as atheists or worse, being directly opposed to Christ and therefore on the side of the devil. The left is responsible for taking the Bible out of the schools and for pro-choice. They are responsible for access to porn, drugs, and other immoral activities. The left is responsible for taking away the parents' right to use corporal punishment when discipling their children. Our children have been corrupted due to a loss of values, discipline, and because of easy access to vices thanks to the left and the ACLU. It does not help that there is truth in some of this. Our government has decided that the rights of the individual outweigh the strength of society as a whole. This is being viewed by the conservatives as a war on God rather than support for individual rights and choices.

The Republican turns political issues into religious issues in order to get elected. They accuse the Democrats as the ones to blame for a Godless and immoral society. The Democrats accuse Republicans as being Bible thumping neanderthals who would take away the rights of the individual by forcing their God, their beliefs and their morals upon free thinkers.

This country is the victim of brainwashing that has occurred on both sides. Behaviorism and the use of techniques advanced by the principles of modern psychology are being exploited by those in power.

I do not support the views of the left or the right. I do not blame one group over the other. Unless there is some consideration for society as a whole, and until compromise and common sense prevail, we will not advance politically or spiritually.

If we are to judge others, we must be willing to consider all reasonable arguments from all points of view in order to diminish our own cultural biases and have an informed opinion.

[Belinda]

JPhilips, thanks for the clear description of the stance of the strong conservative right.

[athena]

I like what prodygi said about the problem of small living spaces making the problem worse. Just throwing money at the problem is not the solution, unless that money is spent wisely. Create better housing for the people, with care to how the housing connects them with the rest of the community, as Scott said.

All family housing should include a dining room or space for table and chairs in the kitchen, because eating together at a table is important to good manners and learning to be civil. All spaces need to be large, and if anyone wonders how large, s/he needs to spend a few hours in different size rooms and note how the size of the room makes him/her feel. Is it easy staying in a room the size of a large closet? How about sharing this room with a sibling? What might we expect to happen?

We are as the gods. That is why self government is possible. Okay, how about being more scientific in the design of low income housing. What is the optimal space and function of rooms? Is the housing well connected with public transit, grocery story, school, employment opportunity?

Belinda speaks of socialism, and I am not clear how it is organized, but I think we should have a good understanding of it. Every society depends on low wage workers, and these people are as deserving of decent housing and decent nieghorhoods as high income workers. We once called the low wage worker the back bone of our country and we respected them. They worked with a sense of honor and we need to get back to this. We need to return to human dignity being our priority.

[JPhillips]

Belinda

How does that saying go? Know thine enemy? If we fail to understand what motivates others, how will we ever learn how to best influence real change?

I'm guessing you already know where I stand and that I don't really view one side or the other as the enemy. Ignorance is the enemy. There is ignorance on both sides. I don't believe most people on the left are as open minded as they like to think they are. I can't dismiss that some bits of wisdom come from the right.

I live in one of the red states. It shames me whenever someone in my state attacks Obama from a racist perspective rather than an ideological one, or attack him from an ideological perspective followed by a racist remark as though only minorities would support such an ideology. I see little difference in many of the policies of Bush and Obama. However, for the most part, Obama seems more protective of human rights and does not condone torture. We are better for that.

It is ignorance that I encounter day to day in my relations with people I care about, that has helped give me my perspective. Sometimes I think to myself, "damn you are so ignorant and close minded, but I love you anyway".

[athena]

[Belinda]

Athena,(Re: #19)I think that a socialist would be more inclined than a conservative to advocate state intervention on an individual's behalf, because a socialist believes that help from the state does not inevitably cause the individual to loose the incentive to work, and in other ways live a productive life.

A socialist will support big government while a conservative will prefer to believe that the country will do better if individuals are left to their own resources with the state looking after little more than foreign relations, and policing at home.
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Socialist

[athena]

[JPhillips]

Athena

Therein lies the problem. Our Society has chosen to protect the rights of abusive parents over the rights of the abused children. Maybe it is because abused children can't vote.

There is a total lack of trust towards the government in our Society. The government has shown time and time again it's lack of competence in handling social problems. Too much beaurocracy and too many greedy people who are more interested in getting their dirty, greedy hands on our tax dollars than they are in showing true altruism. Too many in power that want to control us more than help us. That is the only reason most of us do not want to give the government anymore control over us then it already has.

Now ask me if I would totally eliminate all social services programs due to government waste and abuse. The answer is an emphatic NO. I worked within the system. The system does make a difference and does help people who are deserving of the help. Would I change the sytem? The answer is an emphatic YES. More accountability and transparency is needed.

Speaking of which, some say HIPAA was enacted to protect patients' rights. I say it was enacted in part to keep meddling reporters who are investigating fraud, government overspending and waste from reviewing the medical histories and medical cases of Medicaid patients who are receiving and also reviewing Medicaid providers who are supplying services that are excessive or just not medically necessary. Now there is accountability and transparency for you.

The reporters should have just asked me or some of my colleagures about fraud and abuse when I worked for Medicaid. Probably one third of the money spent in my state in Medicaid is government waste. That money could be used to help more people, or to give rate increases for Medicaid services where it is desperately needed.

My son asks me why I don't write a book about what I learned over the course of my public service, so as to educate the public. My answer is the public would not hear me saying "overhaul the system" but would choose to hear "eliminate the system entirely".

[wanabe]

Being poor isn't about money, it's about peoples willingness to help(not use) a given person.

What the poor truly lack is proportionate opportunity.

As things currently are education(the gate way to opportunity) does not cost money but the diploma that says you have an education does (you have to jump through the hoops they tell you to).

Do not be jealous of the poor man who gets a break you got a break where ever you came from as well.

The more wealth you have what ever form that may be, be generous with it no matter how much you have.
_________________
The Secret To Eternal Life: Live Life To The Fullest, And Help All Others To Do So. Fear is weakness leaving the mind.

[Belinda]

[athena]

[JPhillips]

Athena

In my state politicians are allowed to particate as Medicaid providers and then serve on the legislative committees that decide funding for these Programs. The governor and politicians decide who gets the money and who gets the cuts at budget time. Representives who own Medicaid companies or affluential providers who have legislative connections are shown preferential treatment from the Department. Government personnel, such as myself when I was a Program Manager, are told to review claims in which which the connected providers are having problems, and assist in getting them paid. State employees are told to do everything possible to help politicians and those politically connected, including dropping important work to take care of them first. This interferes with efforts to help the people who truly need it.

There is much more corruption in government than most people who don't have this perspective know about.

[Philosophallic Soda]

I don't believe in charity.

Most people are all about helping the poor and the brainless, but I ask: what about us, the bright individuals of this stinking society?

As for hunger in the world, two words: soylent green. Cook half the population of africa and feed it to the other half.

Then repeat.

[prodygi]