The Maelstrom of Violence

[Eric the Green]

(09-30-2017, 11:53 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:

(09-30-2017, 02:59 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: It's just the facts, not stereotypes, as far as I know. Welfare was restricted to 5 years during the Clinton/Gingrich years, so the person you know receiving freebees for 20 years, isn't getting federal welfare. Maybe something from the state. No, I don't think many people are out there who receive all the expensive freebees you mention. It doesn't matter if welfare recipients feel entitled to it; welfare is still not an entitlement program.

I did claim a reduced energy bill, but it's a small deduction, and I feel entitled to take it considering the inflated prices which big companies charge the people. If others have to pay more than I do with my small discount, then that's on the companies that charge too much, not on people like me. Our big corporations are extremely greedy, and most of what we pay goes for inflated salaries and stock market speculation by the rich owners and investors. In California, we have a non-profit activist group called TURN (Toward Utility Rate Normalization) which tries to keep the inflated energy prices down to reasonable rates. It's a constant battle, and the Public Utility Commission only sometimes listens to the people, and only when we have a Democratic governor are PUC members appointed who might sometimes represent the peoples' interests. That has long been one of Gov. Brown's promises. Even so, they often do the bidding of the company. I got some free energy-saving devices too, but as far as I know, that was a program of the energy company, not something received from taxpayers. The energy companies are not entirely wrong about everything; they do some things right once in a while

You vote against the welfare state, I understand that. That's your right and your point of view. What you don't understand, though, is that you are voting against your own interests when you do that. Government spending has never gone down because of Republican or anti-welfare politicians. There's just not enough in welfare to cut that would benefit you in your tax bill. What they give you instead, is debt that is passed on to future generations. Meanwhile, if you pay taxes for things like higher education, then you are merely paying for what benefits you. It is merely a libertarian philosophy that counts against it, not any actual cost or benefit you may receive or endure. Opposition to the public sphere is merely an ideology that has no relationship to anything in reality. It is just a dog whistle to appeal to your dislike of welfare and your resentment against people who receive it.

You feel entitled to take advantage of it because it's there for you to take advantage of if you so choose. You can thank corporate welfare for your electrical subsidy via funding from some federal program associated with the welfare state that you clearly support. Californian's aren't paying for your subsidy. Americans from the other states are most likely paying for it.

It's not an entitlement, though. I chose to take advantage of the discount, yes. There may be a federal program associated with it. I don't know if this is federal taxpayer-funded corporate welfare for sure, but am pretty sure it's not. Our electric company has its progressive aspects, since it serves northern CA, so it feels the need to appeal to the predominant attitudes here in the region that does more energy conservation than any other region in America. And CA is also the #1 welfare state in America.

Quote:I have no personal or financial stake in the welfare state. I am not a life long Democrat and I have no personal or financial stake in the future of the Democratic party. So, you're going to have to tell me what my interest is in the welfare state. I can tell that you never embraced the American way of life. That's to bad. I pop in and out of here as time/schedule permits. I pop in to see if the blues are still stuck on stereotypes, still bouncing around stereotypes and still limited by stereotypes and lend a little support to the new guys who are doing a fine job taking my place.

My opinion is, that welfare and the social-insurance state serves your interest, but you don't realize it, since you think you can be self-reliant enough to avoid using it, and others should be too. Self-reliance is a key value for you, rather than reliance on the state. You consider it "the American way of life." Liberals and the majority within the blue states and the urban and many suburban regions do not consider self-reliance to be exclusively "the American way of life," as opposed also to the value of mutual help and interdependence as the need arises. Liberals and Democrats consider state welfare a prudent social insurance system which any of us may need at any time. These needs were not satisfied before the New Deal and Great Society, and so people suffered. So, it's a "blue" and "red" disagreement as to what constitutes "the American way of life." We liberals think we ought to catch up to the rest of the developed world in regard to such things as social insurance and green values, and not remain in a regressive condition as we have now for 40 years. And subject to the counter-awakening that dates from 1964, and triumphed in 1980.

btw I have as you know been a self-employed business owner for a number of years, although it's not the kind of business you might like. But it supports many independent businesses.