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Originally posted by Adyta
Voting is a right and nobody should be able to take that away (poor felons. No voting and no guns).
However, I do believe if you have an IQ over a certain number, or pass a test you should get an EXTRA vote, so those idiots are cancelled out.
Democracy: Where any 2 idiots outvote a genius.
Originally posted by ideasarebulletproof
3. Be subject to monthly tobacco and drug screening, and if found with tobacco or drugs in their system, be dropped from the program.
I agree with this. Cigs and drugs are expensive. I'm not paying for your groceries so you can use your money for drugs or cigs. Either smoke, or starve.
I quit smoking because I got sick of spending $7 a day. They can too.
Originally posted by andersensrm
reply to post by the4thhorseman
I agree, taxes for all. But the other thing that needs to be addressed is the power that comes along with money. You reach a certain amount, and you can do anything. Therefore we need to limit the amount, by taxing more the more you make. If you make 100,000,000,000 a year, you should be taxed a high percentage. NO one needs that much money, you'll still have enough to do whatever you want, just not line the pockets of politicians, and effectively run the country.
Originally posted by milominderbinder
Easy. Because although splitting the burden evenly "seems" like a good idea, it in reality leaves the poor without enough to afford a decent life. When people don't have a decent existence and hope for the future you wind up with a whole lot of problems with crime, drugs, and a miserable society in general. Miserable societies quickly devolve into third world countries and the wealthy might be feared...but they are also despised. Therefore, they must be ever-afraid of a "peasant-revolt".
Originally posted by the4thhorseman
Originally posted by jrod
The4thhorseman,
Try reapplying and find out exactly why you were denied.
I am a white male and when I needed assistance I had no problem getting approved for food stamps.edit on 2-3-2012 by jrod because: (no reason given)
Thankfully I am working full time and have been for a few years now so I no longer need it. As I have stated before I do believe in a safety net for people. But I also believe you should "pay" into that safety net as well. At the current rate we are going there will be nothing left for us who really need it when the time comes.
I was denied because the car I had was newer I believe it was 5 years old at the time. I paid it off with the sale of our home years before. I asked how am I supposed to look for work if do not have a vehicle.
This is why I have a sour taste in my mouth. Being in a southern state Texas one will know exactly what I am talking about.edit on 2-3-2012 by the4thhorseman because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by yougetwhatyoudeserve
Originally posted by SmArTbEaTz
To say that you should lose your rights because you are on hard times is just disgusting...
Yes, but you dont know the whole story behind someone who is losing his rights.... You don't lose them if you "play the game along".
Originally posted by openminded2011
It sounds good until you really think about it. Lets say we have a flat 15 percent tax on income. Ok, someone who makes 40000 a year gets taxed 6000. So they have a take home pay of 654 dollars a week to live on. Ok, now tax someone who makes 10 million a year 5 percent:they pay 1500000, THEIR take home pay is 163000 a week. So who will feel it more, the guy who has 600 dollars a week to live on who has lost 100 dollars, or the guy who makes 163000 a week who lost 28000, but still has more to live on per week than the other person has to live on in a YEAR? Still sound fair?edit on 3-3-2012 by openminded2011 because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by nixie_nox
They actually changed the systems since then and stopped counting cars as income. Because like you said, why should people get punished for having a car? And trying to find work?
Originally posted by Adyta
Voting is a right and nobody should be able to take that away (poor felons. No voting and no guns).
However, I do believe if you have an IQ over a certain number, or pass a test you should get an EXTRA vote, so those idiots are cancelled out.
Democracy: Where any 2 idiots outvote a genius.
Originally posted by ideasarebulletproof
3. Be subject to monthly tobacco and drug screening, and if found with tobacco or drugs in their system, be dropped from the program.
I agree with this. Cigs and drugs are expensive. I'm not paying for your groceries so you can use your money for drugs or cigs. Either smoke, or starve.
I quit smoking because I got sick of spending $7 a day. They can too.
Originally posted by chiefsmom
So it's ok to take their voting rights away, but we should give them back to convicted felons.
Well, that makes perfect sense.
Give me one good reason a convicted felon doesn't deserve to vote.
Originally posted by the4thhorseman
Originally posted by milominderbinder
Easy. Because although splitting the burden evenly "seems" like a good idea, it in reality leaves the poor without enough to afford a decent life. When people don't have a decent existence and hope for the future you wind up with a whole lot of problems with crime, drugs, and a miserable society in general. Miserable societies quickly devolve into third world countries and the wealthy might be feared...but they are also despised. Therefore, they must be ever-afraid of a "peasant-revolt".
Drugs are expensive if you can afford a "fix" you can afford to live. Sorry just wanted to say that. But what is a "decent life" what is that standard and who sets these standards? With my salary I am borderline poverty based on standards. As the cost of living has gone up I have downsized. I have had to adapt to the new way of life. Sure I am not happy with it but I do what I need to do to keep food on the table and a roof over my families head.
Honestly it should not cost this much to live. There are a few factors that contribute to higher costs of living fix these and we will see a change.
Originally posted by illuminatislave
reply to post by Under Water
The cheaters outweigh the needy? Are you blind to the rampant poverty and unemployment destroying this country? Just because your family happens to be a bunch of scoundrels doesn't mean that everyone is. Step outside of your shallow world and stop being ignorant.
Originally posted by milominderbinder
Exactly. I don't have all the answers as to how classify what a "decent" living is. For that...you will need someone far more wise than I am. However...I know it when I see it. It usually has the following characteristics:
1. Degrees of wealth or poverty to not garner the individual greater/fewer legal rights...OR THE ABILITY/INABILITY TO ENFORCE THEM.
2. Politicians cannot not be bribed to throw their own people under the bus.
3. Serious conflicts of interest are illegal. This means no sitting on both the boards of GM and Exxon-Mobile, no insider trading if you are a Senator, no accepting Israeli/foreign lobbying dollars, no lobbyists or special interest groups in general, and no "attaboy" jobs after you are out of politics for $20 million bucks / year.
4. Full disclosure of the countries laws. As it stands 70% of our nations legislative documents are on paper only at the LOC and can only be viewed by appointment only IF you are a congress person, Federal or Supreme Court Judge, or an attorney representing a case. The excuse in past years has always been that it's "too massive" to make accessible in a digital format. However...all of the nations legislative documents, rules and regulations since our nations inception (INCLUDING THOSE LAWS NOT PASSED AND THE TRANSCRIPTS FROM EVERY SESSION OF CONGRESS!!) is estimated to be only about 20 TB. As of right now a 4TB hard drive is about $300 on Amazon.com. Granted...a proper server implementation with several redundant mirrors and backups across the country is a little more expensive...but it's nothing that a lousy $250,000 won't cover. I betcha that's way cheaper than paying people to make appointments to physically view documents like a bunch of douchebags.
5. A "free" society doesn't imprison a higher percentage of it's population than any other country in the world does....and then doesn't punish those people by making them essentially unemployable for life because of a felony rap. I like to think that if an 18 yr old kid screws up bad and serves his time...maybe you oughtta not keep making him check the "I'm a felon" box on his job applications for the next 62 years. Maybe the kid won't sell drugs if he can land a halfway decent job, huh?
6. CEO's making $20 million bucks per year for driving a company into bankruptcy while 1/3 or better of the staff makes peanuts should be an act of criminal theft.
There are probably a bunch of other ones...but I can't think of them right now. This stuff really isn't that hard. The bottom line is that if the rules of society are fair and honest...there just won't be that many people on all these social programs and we won't have to have such panic attack about them. They will be a teeny-tiny part of the budget.