what is wrong with Americans today? Or is it me?

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It sure is a different world. So many people are hooked on the opium of social welfare. We can't all just live off of the system. Somebody has to get up and go to work to pay for all of the benefits our government has promised us. Nobody should go hungry; that is why they give food stamps and WIC. Nobody should be homeless; that is why there is government subsidized housing. Nobody should be poor; that is why there is general assistance.

It takes a village to raise a child, especially when the parents are zonked out on drugs or alcohol. DES day care is a right. Drug addiction and alcoholism are diseases and not personal faults. It is society's fault. Poverty and low self esteem are the root problems.

We have the society and the government that fostered this situation because people have voted for the easy way ever since the last great depression. Eventually, government will have spent everyones' personal wealth. Government cannot give something to anyone unless it first takes it away from someone else. If you work, save and invest, you are the greedy wealthy. The IRS will clean your clock.

Think before you vote. Politicians promise to do things for people, and then when they get into office they do things to people. The primary function of government should be to leave the people alone.

My two cents.

Rufus
 
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6chickens in St. Charles :

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I feel this way, too, I am an RN, I worked nights and weekends and paid all my kid's medical bills and paid cash for all my (childbirth) deliveries; in doing so, I hardly have any decent time with my family! When I can be home they cannot be. I work all weekend, 12 hour shifts (14 hours really) and often take care of public aid patients who have cable TV and smoke cigarettes and they're obese, they're so WELL FED on public aid, and they threaten to sue us for all sorts of garbage. I sometimes feel like "I am the stupid one here", because I am so tired from my hard work, and those people don't work at all but they can afford cable TV! I hope that providing a home for my family is the right thing to do. Its hard to tell. Sometimes it seems the public aid recipients are better off.

Nice to know I am not alone.
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Social programs were meant to keep people from falling through the cracks. Unfortunately, people aren't just falling in. They're jumping in and standing there waiting for a handout. It has to stop. Programs can't keep being expanded. Something has to give. If somebody gets a welfare check, they should have to take regular drug tests and go sweep the streets fpr 8 hours a day. If somebody wants an SSI check for a disabled child, it needs to be a severe disability, not just adhd or mild learning disabilities. That isn't what the program was meant for. If somebody wants medicaid, they need to set up a payment plan to repay as much as possible and keep sweeping those streets until they find a job. If somebody wants subsidized housing and they or there spawn vandalize it, they can live on the streets. If somebody fathers a child and walks out on their responsibilities, they can go live on a work farm and the money can be sent to support the kid. If a woman wants to have babies and collect a government check with no intention of keeping a man, she can not only work her 8 hours but perhaps her kids should be taken away to be raised by somebody with higher moral standards. If only I ruled the world, huh? I'm just sick and tired of paying taxes to support all of the dead weight. Nobody minds helping out the person that lost a job or was injured and can't work. It's the career parasites that are bringing the whole country down.
 
A BONE DEEP LONGING

"Within each person lies a bone-deep longing for freedom, self-respect, hope, and the chance to make an important contribution to one's family, community, and the world...No government program can help families become self-reliant, integrated members of their communities unless it is built on a recognition of the power of this bone-deep longing for freedom, self-respect, hope and the chance to contribute."

- Christiann Dean...quote from the Family Development Credential at Cornell University, Ithaca NY.

Our programs for so long have been based on a model that perpetuates helplessness and hopelessness that we are now seeing generations of folks who have simply never seen or experienced anything different. When we as a society start making changes in the way that Social Service organizations 'do business' with families, then we will start seeing change. This isnt saying anything bad about the workers or the programs, but about the effectiveness of the concept.

The current welfare (gosh I hate that word) system is broken. Not because the families who use it are deficient/lazy/dysfunctional, but because the system works based on that ideal and families find that they must fit into that box in order to access the services.

There are of course exceptions to every rule but I do believe that given the opportunity and the knowledge...many family would indeed choose to be self reliant. Particularly if the benefits for self sufficiency were greater than those for staying in the system.

Stepping off the soap box...
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OK I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER NOW!!! At least I know we are not alone in feeling alienated. A couple of points to those who posted.... desperate people do desperate things - well how desperate can you be when you still have cell phones & collect aid? I KNOW desperate - I am feeling it now but I WILL NOT steal or lie or cheat even if it means losing all we have worked for & starting over. 20 years down the drain will be hard but OK AS LONG AS MY FAMILY IS SAFE & FED. Furthermore - we are like many of you - if we see a true need wirh a family who is trying,we willingly help - thats how we were raised - we kill a beef every year & GIVE several hundred pounds to neighbors who are on fixed income raising their grandkids... it is part of the life we embrace.
My wife and I have been depressed over the difficulty of paying the store bills with less than half of its normal income but we soon realized that as long as we have our family we can start over & we also realize that God has always blessed our hard work.... I realize many good people are in our situation but in general I see only those who are taking & see no wrong in it.
As for the neighborhood kids at my store (which by the way is in the next township from where I live and am well known) again we do what we can to keep them safe by inviting them to play in our store yard & feeding them a dollar menu hamburger. The 12 year olds family is moving to Ohio in a few weeks because his dad can't find a job here & is going back to mining. I am concerned for the boy - worried what will happen to him when he is out walking in a new community with no supervision. Will he join a gang? Will he be kidnapped? killed? become a junkie? All of this is not normal for what American families have always stood for even in trying times. It saddens me - no it depresses me to see a great nation going down the drain by losing our children, our values & our morals.
As many of you - we have worked hard to supply our needs & wants & are not looking for a handout - but we are taxed heavier, penalized for being married & pay for schooling for our children while many others are reliant on the government. The frustration is at a high point & I do not know the answers - but many THANKS to those of you who understand. You have given me the strength to see that THERE ARE OTHERS still out there who mirror our beliefs & frustrations. Hoping you are all blessed & your families are kept safe in these trying times.
 
The thing I find disturbing is the end of the traditional family. We had our family later in life. Of all of the kids our kids went to school with, our kids seemed to be the only ones with a father.

Rufus
 
I remember the summer before I went to college I worked at Wal-mart and It really burned me up to see a woman in expensive designer clothes talking on a cell phone with 3 kids dressed in designer clothes and a cart full of expensive junk food whip out a food stamp card and pay for it. I think that going on welfare should be a desperate move and if you are desperate then you would not mind it if the food stamps limit you to buying store brand food that is necessary to live not cheese puffs. I mean if you can afford to dress in an out fit that cost more than my TV then Do you really NEED food stamps?
 
I don't think nothing has happened to Americans.

People are the same thru the ages.


There are always deabeats, criminals, bad people---and there are great, helpful, loving, prideful, full of character people.


In hard times more of the worst come out.



Where I live.
Nope, most people are still good, still do the right thing, still live in good character.
 
I like to think that (in a small way) things are getting better. I have witnessed five couples that we know take on a slower lifestyle after the crash. A few even bought or rented a house with land and started a garden and chicken raising. One of my friends who lives in the city went from not being able to make ramen noodles to making her own bread and butter from scratch and visiting two nearby farms for most of her food needs. Almost all have followed in our path and no longer watch or have television. There is a strong underground of independence growing.

Unfortunately there will be chaos and things will get worse with a majority of the population but I think if more people focused on teaching those who will listen whatever it is you may be passionate about, setting a good example and most importantly just be kind and treat others with respect regardless of how ignorant and selfish they may be, then at least a little bit of difference will be made. Hopefully if things ever REALLY go down the tubes we will be better prepared and have helped prepare some others along the way.
 
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This brought back memories of when I worked in a grocery store and I'd see these women dripping in gold, buying their WIC items and with their own money buying filet mignon, wine, beer and climbing into a 'vette or Escalade.
 
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