Quote:
Originally posted by Carrie@Dec 2 2003, 12:27 AM
Of course how you are raised and what your parents' political affiliations are is going to be a huge factor, but I think the biggest factor in determining someone's political beliefs is experience.
In my experience, sitting in a class talking about the wonders of welfare, free health care, and poor people is quite different than being in the trenches actually counseling those people from week to week and seeing how they do their damndest to use and abuse the system.
Being "poor" and turning around one day to find that you're "comfortable" is an eye-opener as well, especially when you take a look at your check and see how much of it is being ripped away from you to pay for those same system abusers you were counseling a couple of years before.
Experience is what you gain as you grow older, which is why *I* think that most people grow more conservative as they grow older. They lose the ideallic dream of how good society could be "if only"... and experience the truth of how the majority of people are lazy and will cheat at the slightest opportunity, exploit something until it's gone all just for a handout that they don't have to work for.
You start seeing how the people busting their asses day in and day out are being punished, while the people sitting back collecting your tax dollars that you worked for are being rewarded more and more for their refusal to get off of their duffs and take responsibility for themselves.
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Have you been working in different trenches than I have?
While I know there is fraud in the system, I've personally worked with a lot of people who've ran into hard times, I'm met a LOT who simply need a little help getting back on their feet and are trying their damnedest to do it...I've also had to deal with a lot of people with various mental disorders (not including myself ;-)) and these are the people who are forgotten when we talk about welfare and medical handouts...for every "able bodied" person mooching off the system, I can find equal numbers or even more who suffer from various mental problems...
While I don't believe in cradle to grave handouts, I see no societal problem with helping our less fortunate..many many of whom just need a little help once in awhile, especially if they are faced with mental problems which have a lot to do with things like the ability to hold a job or even a conversation.
Having spent a lot of time helping out in homeless shelters, I've come across people who've lost their homes and have problems getting back on their feet (hard to get a job without a phone and an address).
It's easy to say "well, they made a choice, now live with it" but should someone lose thier whole life over a mistake? Once beyond that point, they might just need a simple handup and are more than happy to work for it.
Isn't it ironic than Ronald Reagen cut spending on mental health programs and now suffers from alzheimers?
as for my nurturing, my mother isn't very politcal at all but is pretty mucha liberal, help your fello man type of person and my father went into Vietnam a red, white and blue conservative loe it or leave it type guy and came out a very changed man and very liberal but the last decade or so hasn't really voted along any party line...