Quote:
Originally Posted by scottw
...I don't know the circumstances but he has to work at that age for whatever reason, he may need a government program to cure that?
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No. I wouldn't say that we need a government program for every conceivable reason that someone may be struggling.
Let me try to articulate my feeling this way...I don't think we need government programs to guarantee equality of
outcome. But I think it might be worthwhile to have safety nets that guarantee
more equality of
opportunity.
For example, I had friends at UCONN whose parents worked hard to pay tuition, and my friends didn't work hard and graduated with worthless degrees in things like communications. Those friends are struggling a bit, and I have no problem whatsoever with the fact they are struggling. They had the opportunity, they made bad choices, so it's just and fair that they face the consequences.
I can't bring myself to feel the same way about people who struggle with medical expenses. If my friends (with the sick daughter) were struggling because they made bad business decisions, or because they flushed their money away on expensive cars, that's one thing. But their struggles are from causes that they had zero control over.
In a perfect world, we'd all have the same oppotunities to be successful. I have no issue with people who make stupid choices, having to live with the consequences of their choices. However, I don't think that's equivalent to someone struggling because they, or someone in their family, was born sick. Those are distinguishable scenarios.