Reply With Quote
I never took you for a Republican, SA120. Guess I've been wrong all this time.
Maybe he doesn't, but my "hypocricy" line is directed at the Republicans.
I never took you for a Republican, SA120. Guess I've been wrong all this time.
No, I could never be Republican.
Sorry if I made a mistake about the "garbage" line directed at you, but I stand by what I said about the hypocricy within the Republican party.
Understood. But do you believe the government SHOULD coerce morality?
Well, I just think that when a party claims to be the "christian" party, that maybe they might not want to go against Christ-like values.
In my personal opinion, I think that we all have a responsibilty to help the poor and hungry, not only with feeding them, but understanding the cir stances and that there are many different kinds of cir stances (it's not always as simple as "they are lazy and don't want to work), get them training and long term career goals, so they can become self-sufficient.
To me it's not about just charity, but enriching their lives, because some people don't have all the breaks that others have or even positive influences around them for them to be confident and educated properly.
And if they have noone, why ignore that?
October 26th, 2006 12:08 pm
War on poverty slips from election agenda
By Matthew Bigg / Reuters
NEW ORLEANS - On a boat stranded in a street in New Orleans, two words are scrawled: "No politicians."
It's not clear if the boat is a remnant of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated this city more than a year ago, but the message of the graffiti is unmistakable: politicians failed to deliver for those who lost their homes in the hurricane.
"They sent boys over there (to Iraq) to fight in a war that never ends. Why didn't they keep the money over here when Americans are suffering," said Gwen Brown, 51, whose home in New Orleans was flooded by Katrina.
Hurricane Katrina exposed an underclass of poor Americans to the rest of the world, but poverty has slipped off the agenda in the runup to midterm congressional elections next month.
"After the hurricane it was easier for a time (to interest people in poverty) but it is ... very hard to maintain national attention unless there is national leadership," former Democratic senator John Edwards said in an interview.
Edwards ran for president in 2004 arguing there were two Americas, one for the well-off and another for those who struggle. When that effort failed, he ran for vice president on John Kerry's ticket. He said he has not decided whether to run again in 2008.
Poverty has been a Democratic issue since President Lyndon Johnson declared a "war on poverty" in 1964, but Edwards said Democrats see risks in promoting the issue, fearing they would be painted as big-government spenders.
An illustration of that is Harold Ford, running for the U.S. Senate for Tennessee, who campaigns on reforming health care but also advocates issues attractive to conservative voters such as opposition to gay marriage and cutting taxes.
U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson warned there were dangers for Democrats who abandoned social justice issues to win elections.
"There is a need to have politicians whose positions represent change for the better and not an accommodation with the worst of our status quo," he told Reuters.
DOES POVERTY EXIST?
The U.S. Census Bureau said in August one in eight Americans and one in four black people lived in poverty last year.
In all, some 37 million Americans lived below the poverty line, defined as having an annual income around $10,000 for a single person or $20,000 for a family of four, it said.
Robert Rector of the conservative Heritage Foundation think-tank argued there is little actual poverty in the United States and most poor people had a house, car, television, air conditioning, food and medical care.
Democrats only employed the word to stir emotions and "low income status" would be a better description in most cases, Rector said in an interview.
That case gains traction in the United States, a society with a fiercely compe ive ethic and a belief that hard work and self-reliance are a sure route to success, making it risky to promote a national goal of helping the poor.
What makes it still harder is that the religious right has hijacked the agenda for Christian voters promoting opposition to abortion and gay marriage but pushing poverty off the agenda, said Jim Wallis, leader of Sojourners, a Christian ministry that promotes spiritual renewal and social justice.
Wallis cited recent research by the Center for American Values in Public Life which indicated that 85 percent of Americans say poverty and affordable health care are more important issues than abortion and same sex marriage.
"The conventional wisdom is that poverty isn't sexy and that nobody wants to talk about poverty ... You need political leaders with the courage to test the proposition," he said.
For many voters in New Orleans, talk of political courage may come too late to dent their cynicism.
Near the stranded boat, the owner of a newly-rebuilt house near the stranded boat has created a mock Hurricane Katrina cemetery, with colorful headstones bearing epitaphs for local politicians and President Bush. One reads: "Bush rebuilt the city -- Baghdad."
"Like every great religion of the past SOME seek to find the divinity within and to express this revelation in a life of glorification and the worship of God. These ancient goals we define in the metaphor of the present — turn on, tune in, drop out."
Yup. PC at it's worst.
Materiality is an empty vice.
God doesn't care how much money you have or keep or make in your life time. When you die you don't take all of it with you and your money is not God's concern. Your soul is.
"it doesnt' help much anyway, so why do it?" is your response?
Read my post again:
Taxes don't help as much as charitable giving (in terms of clothing and feeding the poor).
I am disgusted by the fact that the government takes so much money and wastes it, or uses it to bolster its own power. It doesn't help the poor; it hurts the poor, ultimately.
Nowhere in the gospel in Christ's teachings does it praise a man for paying taxes to the government which then went to help a poor or ailing person. There several texts, however, regarding individual men helping their individual neighbors DIRECTLY. This in honored. This is what I want to have more of my own money to do.
God is not neutral on materialism. He warns against it in no uncertain terms. Acquiring wealth isn't forbidden, but it is recognized as a stumbling block to a Christian life.
You thought process is flawed. Charity is not a responsibility. It is something
that is done freely by the individual. You must always remember something.
Some people do need government help. The sick, disabled and mentally
ill. And maybe on occasion the able bodied for a short period of time.
But remember something about taxes. Honest hard working "poor" people
have to pay, whether they can afford to or not. So is that fair for them
to deny their families the benefit of those dollars while giving to someone
else what they need. Income taxes aren't the only taxes paid by a long
shot. Look at how many taxing agencies there are in Bexar county alone.
And that is a crime. And government is creating more and more everyday.
And using the same arguments as you have for some of those taxes.
I will ask your another question. How many training programs do we need?
My goodness, there must be hump-teen available here in San Antonio
alone.
Enriching some ones life. Sounds good, but you cant do it, nor can I.
Is enrichment making sure they have the "breaks" you and I had. I
don't recall a single "break" in my life. I worked for what I had, it wasn't
given to me. The same opportunities I had, every able bodied person
in the United States has. You get a job, stick with it. Lean what is
expected of you and be dependable and work your butt off. Jobs are
available for those that want to work. They may not pay very well to
begin with, but over time they can and in most cases do. Even
What-a-Burger has management people who started out flipping hamburgers.
It is fine and good that you want to help people. And you doing it,
I have no problem whatsoevery. You and others like you demanding
that everyone do it through our taxes. Yes I have a big problem with
that.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions