What does the government owe this person?

[alchemize]

Was contemplating all the discussion on what rights we have here in the US. So let's take a single, healthy adult person, male or female.

Person refuses to do any sort of work, has zero money, without government aid will starve him/herself to death, will not provide his/her own shelter (can't, no money), you get the gist. Assume this person will keep this status for the rest of his/her life, won't ever marry or reproduce.

What does the government owe this person?

 

[blackangst1]

An opportunity to change him/herself, and the freedom to do so without interference. Thats about it.

 

[Infohawk]

Similar to my but yours is pretty specific in that he/she will never work. I have a hunch very few healthy people would ever admit to that. Assuming they did though, they aren't owed anything. One question though, has this person worked in the past?

 

[theeedude]

air conditioning

 

[her209]

How does one stay healthy without eating/drinking?

 

[JSt0rm]

well most bums have mental disorders so I dont know where you are coming from with this.

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: Infohawk
Similar to my but yours is pretty specific in that he/she will never work. I have a hunch very few healthy people would ever admit to that. Assuming they did though, they aren't owed anything. One question though, has this person worked in the past?

For the sake of argument, let's say this person never has worked. This person's parents took care of his/her every need. And they are no longer in the picture.

 

[db]

Sounds like a loaded question.

 

[Fox5]

An education and the opportunity to work.

 

[Andrew1990]

An education, except that would probably be wasted on such a person.


I would probably say a plane ticket to Africa or Mexico.

 

[Sacrilege]

The government owes them a rifle and some training, to take up their spot on the front lines of the next war.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Fox5
An education and the opportunity to work.

a education? so a college degree?

 

[Elias824]

This is a faulty question, you assume you know everything this person will do. If things were that easy im sure we would have a decent solution. Also I dont think any sane person will just not work and die because of laziness. Usually when people stop having food and shelter they tend to become alot more willing to work. The govt owes him only the opportunity to do something else.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Elias824
This is a faulty question, you assume you know everything this person will do. If things were that easy im sure we would have a decent solution. Also I dont think any sane person will just not work and die because of laziness. Usually when people stop having food and shelter they tend to become alot more willing to work. The govt owes him only the opportunity to do something else.

yes its a flawed question.

but people know that they can get on many goverment programs and continue to not work.

 

[tk149]

Cell phone. And access to P&N. And of course, A/C.

 

[Andrew1990]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: Elias824
This is a faulty question, you assume you know everything this person will do. If things were that easy im sure we would have a decent solution. Also I dont think any sane person will just not work and die because of laziness. Usually when people stop having food and shelter they tend to become alot more willing to work. The govt owes him only the opportunity to do something else.

yes its a flawed question.

but people know that they can get on many goverment programs and continue to not work.

My mother does that, she actually makes more than when she had a job. She gets health insurance, food stamps, and $800 a month to live off of.

Of course I live with my father.....

 

[blahblah99]

Originally posted by: alchemize
Was contemplating all the discussion on what rights we have here in the US. So let's take a single, healthy adult person, male or female.

Person refuses to do any sort of work, has zero money, without government aid will starve him/herself to death, will not provide his/her own shelter (can't, no money), you get the gist. Assume this person will keep this status for the rest of his/her life, won't ever marry or reproduce.

What does the government owe this person?

The government owes this person nothing, and that person deserves nothing from the government.

Now take a person who works as hard as possible and earns an enormous salary. What does that person owe the government?

 

[rchiu]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: Elias824
This is a faulty question, you assume you know everything this person will do. If things were that easy im sure we would have a decent solution. Also I dont think any sane person will just not work and die because of laziness. Usually when people stop having food and shelter they tend to become alot more willing to work. The govt owes him only the opportunity to do something else.

yes its a flawed question.

but people know that they can get on many goverment programs and continue to not work.

I think the 1996 welfare reform changed some of that and made most programs to provide short term assistance and not long term, unlimited give away. Unless it's for disabled, sigle mother who needs to care for kids...etc.

Of course the system is not going to be perfect. But if the system help 100's of really needed, and help a couple that's taking a free ride at the same time, it is still a good program for the society.

 

[Mursilis]

Originally posted by: Infohawk
Similar to my but yours is pretty specific in that he/she will never work. I have a hunch very few healthy people would ever admit to that. Assuming they did though, they aren't owed anything. One question though, has this person worked in the past?

Dependence, and how the mind rationalizes it, is a tricky thing. Yes, few people are going to actually admit (even to themselves) that they're leeches, but many are going to cling to some small personal issue as an excuse to call themselves disabled, and convince themselves they cannot work, and thus deserve a handout. I work with people seeking various forms of federal disability, and very few of the people I see are out and out liars, from what I can tell; they seem to actually believe that they're disabled for life, even if the original issue was minor and years ago. But they're not. We're born dependent, and many people refuse to give that up. The more the gov't creates incentives for dependency, the more dependent people we'll get.

 

[rudder]

A car and some gas.

 

[soulcougher73]

Originally posted by: blackangst1
An opportunity to change him/herself, and the freedom to do so without interference. Thats about it.

Im going to go with this.
.
.
.
Or we owe him/her a bullet to the head.

 

[dphantom]

nothing. We have all the inalienable rights already needed.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: rchiu

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: Elias824
This is a faulty question, you assume you know everything this person will do. If things were that easy im sure we would have a decent solution. Also I dont think any sane person will just not work and die because of laziness. Usually when people stop having food and shelter they tend to become alot more willing to work. The govt owes him only the opportunity to do something else.

yes its a flawed question.

but people know that they can get on many goverment programs and continue to not work.

I think the 1996 welfare reform changed some of that and made most programs to provide short term assistance and not long term, unlimited give away. Unless it's for disabled, sigle mother who needs to care for kids...etc.

Of course the system is not going to be perfect. But if the system help 100's of really needed, and help a couple that's taking a free ride at the same time, it is still a good program for the society.

even then the SSDI program is a joke.

it takes years (though lately they have tried to make it faster) to get on SSDI because of all the liars and bullshit reasons people think they deserve it.

I was in the doctor office (i have fibromyalgia and Rhemotoid arthritis) and the idiot sitting next to me in shorts, basketball shoes was on the phone talking about how he was going to see the doctor for his SSDI certification and then how he was out playing basketball for like 3 hours. I wanted to ask if he can play basketball for 3 hours what makes him th ink he needs fucking SSDI?

 

[evident]

2009 Nissan GT-R

 

[spidey07]

Not a damn thing except opportunity which he already has.