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Comment by bwb | Hacker News Reader

We are supposed to be an American community, not a bunch of people who don't lend a hand when someone makes a misstep or hits a wall.

I am disgusted how selfish such a huge chunk of this country has become... half this country can't remember what empathy is, and they have slowly destroyed our social safety net. I want the government to do more to help people in this type of position get back on their feet so that they can live a good life, and contribute to our country and tax base. I want my taxes to go UP to pay for that, in conjunction with lowering the massive defense spending we have.

If you are lucky enough to have parents or family who can help you out awesome, but not everyone has that.

If you are lucky enough to never make a misstep so deep you can't recover on your own, awesome for you, not everyone has that.

What do you want him to do? Build a time machine, go back in time, and not make a series of mistakes that helped lead here?

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> half this country can't remember what empathy is

Not that I disagree with your overall point, but while I might be being overly sensitive here, I think it's implicit that 9 times out of 10, when someone refers to "half the country", what they mean to say is "the half of the country not affiliated with the political party to which I am affiliated."

Yes, there are selfish people, but largely, that selfishness is not evenly divisible by party line, and the castigation of "the others" should be minimized, in my opinion, as most Americans, left, right, or center, are honestly trying to do what they feel is right.

As it sits, Republicans are statistically quite charitable[1][2], to the point that 9 of the 10 most charitable states are red states.

Yes, perhaps they see a different role for government than you do, and yes, I think that the parent to your comment was indeed acting selfishly, but that doesn't necessarily conflate to partisan beliefs, nor should we attempt to correlate individual behavior to partisan causation.

[1] - https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/19/giving-back-_n_378...

[2] - https://www.nationalreview.com/the-home-front/which-politica...

I don't like either political party, but that doesn't mean they are equal in how terrible they are, too many people try to equivocate.

We absolutely should do more to castigate people by party line, especially when their beliefs are based on propaganda. The Republican party is destroying the future of this country. The Republican media and formal political party have convinced the majority of its members that people who need help are lazy welfare queens, and that government can't do anything efficiently. It is a great narrative, and it is not factually true.

Charity is ineffective, have you looked at how they spend their money and how much goes to fund-raising and operations? Very few charities actually do anything meaningful. Government is what does the hard work that keeps states and the country running. Not to mention the number of funds given to charities with dubious missions, such as convincing women not to have abortions, or megachurches trying to buy a jet so that Christ comes back and the world ends...

Charities are badly run band-aids that are trying to hold the country together. It isn't a good thing, it is another sign of how far we have sunk in taking care of our people. That is money that should have been collected via taxes and actually deployed to help educate people, help them afford health care, etc etc.

I would urge everyone to start castigating people by party line before it is too late.

There are Republicans who agree with you on healthcare. Let's not forget that Obama's ACA was a rehash of Romneycare. There are Republicans in favor of gay marriage. The attorneys in US v Windsor, which overturned the Defense of Marriage Act signed into law by Bill Clinton, were Republicans.

There are Republicans who support charity, a strong social safety net, and taking care of their friends and neighbors.

and then they talk about all that and go out and vote for people who support none of those things.

Actions speak a lot louder than words. If you vote republican you absolutely stand behind those things.

Republicans actively try to destroy any sort of reasonable social safety net. I really don't care how partisan you think I'm being, the republican viewpoint on this is cruel and wrong and I think extremely low of anyone who supports it.

Extremely low.

If I were making six figures for the last 15 years, I don’t think I’d deserve (or want) charity unless there are some very unusual circumstances.

The OP wasn’t asking for charity either.

>What do you want him to do?

Probably what I’d do. Go get ANY job. Landscaper, McDonald’s, whatever pays the bills.

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