Quote:
Originally Posted by sperry
Well said for someone who's never met people that want to have a better life but can't.
It's all well and good to tell people they just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, but it's totally unrealistic to say that's possible for everyone. Life ain't fair... for many many people the only difference between success and failure is luck. Luck to be born rich vs luck to be born blind... etc.
The question you have to ask yourself is whether or not you believe that a successful society has an obligation to provide for those that can't provide for themselves. Now I'm with you on the idea that a "free ride" isn't fair to the rest of us that are paying for it... but that's why I think people on welfare should "pay their way" by going to school. If we require folks to get an education in order to receive their "free" welfare, we end up with folks that have a college or trade school degree in a few years that are now capable of contributing and giving back to society. The vast majority of people that are living in welfare hell now are there because they were born poor, never got an education, and are having kids that will perpetuate the cycle. They're not there because they want to be, they're there because they don't know how not to be there. Teach them a skill, give them a sense of accomplishment, and I bet the vast majority of people that have tasted success will now have the will and skills to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
And for that tiny minority of people that actually are lazy, that education can't help... well that minority is probably so small that we can write it off as an expense in the business of providing everyone with the opportunity to succeed.
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Who's fault is it that they never got an education? For the record, I'm saying high school education, while you may be referring to college education. Arguing my point, it is their fault that they didn't get an education. It is free to get, and against the law not to get, an education right now. Yet, there are still plenty of people not going. Also, it is their own fault for getting pregnant at 16. All of us are smart enough not to. We learned in middle school how to not get pregnant.
Ignorance is no excuse for not being better. I "didn't know" how to go to college, because neither one of my parents went. I'm figuring it out. Same with my girlfriend. She is probably a better example. Her single mom with 4 kids is working 2-3 jobs at a time to provide for her kids. All of her kids realized that they wanted better than that for themselves, so they are all educating themselves. If you look at your parents at their dead end jobs and don't realize you want better than that, it is not my responsibility to pay for you just because I did want to be better than my parents. Everyone has an opportunity to do well in this country, but not the
right to do well in this country. What you do with that opportunity is entirely up to you.
College is not the only answer, nor is it the answer for everyone. I have friends that I went to high school with for whom college is just not the way to go. They aren't as booksmart as me, and I don't mean that in any demeaning way. They are much better at construction/flooring than I am, so that is what they do. Not everyone is good at the same thing, which is how it is supposed to work. If everyone was as good a mechanic as Cory, he wouldn't have a job, because everyone would fix their own problems in 15 minutes with a banana peel, some duct tape, and a tire iron. That's how the system works. You find what you are good at, find a way to get paid for it, and buy the things important to you.
And you're right, Scott. I haven't met anyone that wants better but can't get it. The only limitations they have on bettering themselves are self-imposed. I've met plenty of f-ups, in fact I'm related to a bunch of them, but not one of them is incapable of improving their situation. Unmotivated to do so, yes, but not incapable.