• Security incident: ISF was recently accessed by intruders. Please change your password, and change it anywhere else you used it. Read more

Rick Santorum Says He’s Not Interested In Helping African-Americans

JudeBrando said:
"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."

Benjamin Franklin
Click to expand...
I think that is a great quote. It's a reasoned observation of human behavior in the 18th century. Thing is, we have more than Ben's opinion based on his contemporary observations. We have 200 years of social progress that demonstrates that we can provide a strong social safety net and help people out of poverty and into productive lives. These dichotomies have become anachronistic. We've actually learned something since the founding of America, and BTW, the social dynamics have changed significantly.
 
Last edited:
RandFan said:
I think that is a great quote. It's a reasoned observation of human behavior in the 18th century. Thing is, we have more than Ben's opinion based on his contemporary observations. We have 200 years of social progress that demonstrates that we can provide a strong social safety net and help people out of poverty and into productive lives. These dichotomies have become anachronistic. We've actually learned something since the founding of America, and BTW, the social dynamics have changed significantly.
Click to expand...


Do you think general human behavior has changed much since then? I think there is now as there has always been a portion of the population that will not attempt to get themselves out of a bad situation if they are taken care of. There are also others who are driven to try no matter what.

They doesn't have to be the dichotomies and I don't think many modern politicians believe in doing away with the safety net.
I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of
Click to expand...
That does not mean there should be no safety net. But it should not be too easy to stay in the net.

Anecdotal experience
My only experience (thankfully and/or luckily) with unemployment was in the mid 1970's with my mother in law. She had to go the office every week, stand in line and give "proof" that she had applied for jobs. No one I know who has been on unemployment in recent times has had to do that. In fact many of them would be unable to as they have off the books jobs.
 
The original sounded to me like he said "black." It may well be that he got most of the word out before he thought "Oh ****** Did I just say that?"

I'm sure he was tongue-tied, and would as soon see little sociopath choke on it.
 
Pardalis said:
Are you a telepath?
Click to expand...
No. I just have a lot of experience trying to figure out what sociopaths are saying based on their mannerisms.

I see no way that his mouth could have produced the sounds I heard come out of it without his having configured it to say "black."
 
Pardalis said:
Are you a psychiatrist?
Click to expand...
No, but i did tsake a lot of Psych courses when I was still pursuing a degree in Special Education. Confabulation is a common symptom of an emotional or personality disorder, so you learn to watch for it.

Santorum is confabulating.
 
JudeBrando said:
"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."

Benjamin Franklin
Click to expand...

Well, Benjamin Franklin was a very smart, very brave, very honest, and very hard working man. Therefore, if Benjamin Franklin said that he actually lead and drove people out of poverty, then I do believe him; after all, that sounds like just the sort of thing he would do.

Modern national Republicans, however, are nothing but stupid, greedy, liars, who do not care who gets hurt or killed, just so long as the Republican Party wins elections. Therefore, I do not believe that they will do anything to help those in poverty regardless of just whom they may quote; after all, that is just the sort of thing they would do.
 
This kind of talk reminds me of a political cartoon I saw in the '70s (IIRC). It had an image of a 2 person race--like at a track meet--lining up for the start. One runner was black, the other white. The black guy had a huge boulder labelled "300 years of oppression" strapped to his back. A bystander was saying something like, "I oppose affirmative action because I'm in favor of a level playing field" or probably some pithier way of showing the commenter was oblivious to the unfairness of the huge boulder.

I realize the topic here isn't affirmative action, but I think the more or less philosophical underpinnings of the welfare system is similar. We can't ignore the fact that people are born into situations such that economic opportunity is not at all equal. We as a society might lose the benefits of our best human capital if we don't at least try to provide opportunity for the less fortunate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

ISF - Join now!

Every member here is approved by hand. No bots, no spam, just people who care about evidence and honest debate.

Membership is free!

Create your free account

Back
Top Bottom