Is the Republican Party not wanting to pay taxes and put money on social programs hypocritical?

[Lexicon]

At what point does the desire to protect people, yield to the reality that frequently that protection entails a lowered necessity to look after oneself.

What exactly have you lost out on in your life, that the fractions of pennies taken from your taxes for govt aid could have taken care of for you? To be clear, I'm not trying to antagonize.. that's a legitimate question. I'm not sure how to better phrase it, right now.


You have a home, access to healthcare, access to food, clothes on your back, money to spend on hobbies/recreation/personal enrichment. You work in finance, right? I'm sure you've got a nice nest egg of savings/investments. And your parents will likely leave you something, too.

The system you have to contribute to may not be perfect, but day-to-day, do you ever have to really worry about how you'll cover any of these costs? The costs that make life sustainable? Or even the ones beyond survival that make it more worthwhile?




For context - If it weren't for public assistance, I would be homeless. I'd have no way to eat. Or even have a phone to coordinate care with my doctors. My medical costs would be insurmountable. The cost just to see the surgeon I need would be $860, just for one visit. The cost of my medical care for the past 12 months out of pocket would've been $17.5K. The additional cost of my medications out of pocket per year add up to $13.5K. The cost of an outpatient hip surgery I had a couple yrs ago would've been almost 80 grand out of pocket. I was in so much pain before that, that I woke up every couple of hours. I had to keep a stool in the kitchen just to make food or clean.
I'm having inpatient orthopedic surgery to preserve my hip this winter. I can't even begin to fathom how much that would cost out of pocket, given the price of less invasive outpatient surgery we already tried.

The genetic lotto not only blessed me with unstable joints & hip dysplasia, it also gifted asthma & a serious allergy to bee venom protein. Without Medicaid, I wouldn't have access to lifesaving albuterol & epinephrine. CVS doesn’t just hand those out for free.


When I was 10, a boy bashed me in the head with a rock, leaving me with a traumatic brain injury & a wound that exposed my skull. I've had debilitating migraines ever since.
The cost of a 1-month supply of sumatriptan injections to manage this otherwise intractable pain (that literally blinds me in one eye, causes vomiting that feels like explosions of glass shards around my brain... has made me wish I were dead at times...) would be $407 out of pocket. Within an hour of administering this medication, the pain episode is over.

My quality of life without this help would hardly exist, and I would not know a day without intolerable pain. And I am not unique in this- very far from it. I'm actually better off than a lot of people.




That said, I don't feel entitled to other people's resources, & it's embarrassing to announce at the cash register that I'm paying with EBT, especially because I appear young & completely able-bodied. But this aid is also the only option available to me, and millions like me, & those unimaginably worse off. Cancer patients, diabetics, CF patients... And so I'm beyond grateful this help exists. My co-pay for everything is $0. There's a good chance I wouldn't be alive without this.


It's disheartening to hear that people resent helping, or feel reluctant to help, where they can. I have less than nothing of value to my name, and when I don't spend my monthly food allotment on myself (because I'm lucky enough to find cheaper healthy food locally) I give the extra food to a struggling single parent in my life who doesn't qualify for aid but has trouble at times, regardless. Or I drop off some nonperishables at the food pantry. Whoever needs it more that month. Sure, I could stockpile those for myself, just keep thinking only of myself, but others exist who are even worse off. Pain is universal. Compassion can be, too.

And it doesn't take much of me to give. In fact, it feels more like I gain something of myself back. I'm not sure why it's so hard for countless others who are far better off- whose lives won't be terribly altered by contributing- to really grasp that concept.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Sound like your exactly the kind of person I'm ok with sending social funding to.

Hence my rejoinder to your original question you asked earlier in the thread.

Now if you want me to have the 100% of exactly where the line needs to be drawn right now, I would think that's something better done in a collaborative effort as I'm not as familiar with the system as you.

 

[indra]

TLDR

How do you still exist

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

How do you still exist

Food water oxygen and sleep mostly.

 

[Coriolis]

Is Christ Lord?

Someone who thinks so should be trying to follow his example in how they live their lives.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Someone who thinks so should be trying to follow his example in how they live their lives.

There's a quote about motes and beams but I can't quite put my finger on it.

 

[Coriolis]

There's a quote about motes and beams but I can't quite put my finger on it.

I'm sure you can. Even I can, and I'm not a Christian.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I'm sure you can. Even I can, and I'm not a Christian.

Please tell me all about your life, give me an understanding of what's earned you the pedestal from which to judge.

I don't presume to judge your life, except in my mote quote which was a direct response to your judgement.

Regarding your use of my post in the mature thread against me....

Unless you have the courage to give me all the ammunition to tear you down, I fail to see why I should give a shit that you chose to exploit my vulnerability this way.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I could comb through your blog for something, but I'm not that petty.

 

[Coriolis]

Please tell me all about your life, give me an understanding of what's earned you the pedestal from which to judge.

I don't presume to judge your life, except in my mote quote which was a direct response to your judgement.

Regarding your use of my post in the mature thread against me....

Unless you have the courage to give me all the ammunition to tear you down, I fail to see why I should give a shit that you chose to exploit my vulnerability this way.

This is a discussion about Republicans paying taxes. You threw out an apparently irrelevant question about Christ, without connecting it at all to the discussion. I responded with a general statement. Why would you interpret that as a personal judgment against you?

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Someone who thinks so should be trying to follow his example in how they live their lives.

Jesus. You're tedious. Sounds like Judgement to ME!

 

[Coriolis]

Jesus. You're tedious. Sounds like Judgement to ME!

It is a judgment, and one that many Christians would share. I have heard it preached from the pulpit in many places. You seem quick to apply it to yourself. That says more about you than about me.

 

[LightSun]

After I examined every teaching of Jesus expressed down below and then compare it with action of the Republican Party I’ve come to this conclusion.,

I’m sorry, but if you are a Republican I don’t see you following any of Jesus teachings.

I don’t write this to offend. If you have positive energy then I’ll accept you as a positive person.

I’ll seek to work together with you in however we can to make this a better world. I don’t see you though as following Jesus teachings.

I made a thread but the thread won’t let me interact and make a comment. That’s why I’m posting down below the comment I’d make if I was allowed too.

“Is the Republican Party not wanting to pay taxes and put money on social programs hypocritical?

This troubles me. I know democrats, indeed all people must have blind spots. I am not purposely attacking conservatives. I can only point out inconsistencies.

1. Jesus said, “Give unto Caesar what is his.”

2. Jesus said “the kingdom of heaven is within.”

Yet I see blatant hypocrisy in that the world worship, “Fame, Power, Wealth, sex, beauty, and violence.”

3. Jesus said, “It is harder for a camel go through the eyes of a needle, rather than a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven.”

4. Jesus said to “feed and succor the poor”. Coming from Jesus, this is a commandment.”

5. Jesus said, “What you have done to the least, you have given unto me.”

6. Jesus said why worry of earthly concerns. Does not the lord provide for the birds and animals?” Put our trust in him, and worry not.

Taking all these verses together we should as a moral responsibility to be willing to pay taxes in order to help our fellow man.

In the time of the Robber Barons of, Carnegie, J.p. Morgan, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller and Ford the tax on the rich was at 90%.

Yet these titans of industry I’ve mentioned were still exorbitantly rich and billionaires in wealth in todays money.

Anything other is hypocrisy. Republicans are fighting to be taxed a mere 2% higher. This is blatant, sheer hypocrisy. We worship, “Fame, Power, Wealth, sex, beauty, and violence.”

7. And on the last day Jesus will say unto those not helping our fellow brothers and sisters that he never knew us.

Republicans don’t want abortion. They fight for an unborn fetus. What to me is as sheer horror.is mankind’s slaughtering of feeling and alert animals for our consumption.

Republicans have a very dim few of the consequence of forcing women to have babies they don’t want.

According to research 2/3 of children growing up in dysfunctional homes for the rest of their lives have problems in one or more areas.

1. Mental Illness
2.Substance Abuse
3. Crime
4. Problems with jobs
5. Problems with relationships

8. Jesus said’ “Love thy neighbor and thy God.” Yet generally speaking Republicans will not stand up to the plate and spend money on social programs.

Republicans force these unwanted children that will statistically be raised in homes lacking love and nurture.

Generally republicans don’t want to pay for social services. They turn their back on the children they wish to be born into this world.

I think it cruel to bring children into the world that will then have problems but not the funds to help these individuals who had the misfortune to have bad parenting. It is cruel, immoral, unethical, and lacks humanity.

9. Finally Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the peacekeepers.”

Generally speaking Republican conservatives don’t want to deal with gun violence nor implement laws restricting semi automatic rifles and magazines with a large number of bullets.

10. Jesus came not for the rich and status quo. In fact the status quo killed him. Jesus came for the prostitutes, poor and sick.

Jesus would be above any political party. It is the Democratic Party that stands up for the poor and give voice to the disadvantaged and the disenfranchised.

I am not putting down Republicans. I just wish to stress the importance that they learn and educate themselves. This is of the consequences of their pro life stance.” LightSun

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Why would you interpret that as a personal judgment against you?

It is a judgment, and one that many Christians would share.

 

[Coriolis]

We've been throwing billions in tax payer fund towards education with no result.

We've been throwing billions in taxes to fight the war on poverty with no result.

Show me a social program where the money was spent intelligently and solved the problem it purported to and you might find people a little less hesitant to throw money at.

The money doesn't achieve anything if the program doesn't work.

The money shouldn't ever be a measure of how good you get to feel about your self because you "did something".

Doing something always means more money, it almost never means improved results.

So no I find no contradiction between my faith and reluctance to fund staffing positions at non profits as opposed to solving problems.

They are not mutually exclusive: funding and results. Not much can be done without money, but I do agree money is not everything. often it is not even the most important thing. I wonder why funding so often does not translate into results. Locally, I see money being spent on the wrong thing, often because the people who control it - but don't provide it - want to use it for their own political ends rather than the intended purpose. This happens often in education. This sort of manipulation is exacerbated by the fact that regulations generally are process based rather than results based. Shifting to results based policies would help, but the metrics required to assess that are more demanding to obtain.

 

[LightSun]

@Coriolis and @DiscoBiscuit, If my wife was alive I’d like to get a government grant. I’d like to have controlled studies.

It is my contention that having the following ingredients could help to nurture and develop more mentally healthy children who grow up to have good self esteem, self concept, and good mental health.

it all starts with the children. I’ve time and again stressed I favor Carl Jung’s insights. Until we make the unconscious, conscious we will not evolve as a society.

Introduce this into the school environment.

1. Cognitive Mindfulness and knowing what distortions of thought are in the thinking process.

If we implement cognitive discipline at an early age then perhaps we can engender a new generation that is more responsible for their own thoughts, feelings and actions. Plus also be mindful of cognitive distortions in their speech and writing.

I can’t stand and am sick of people saying we are at the dawn of a new awakening. There are phrases such as raise your frequency and vibration.

This is ridiculous. Nothing comes easy. This paradigm change won’t occur until we learn to discipline our own mind and become more aware of our unconscious.

Empathy training and skills in an experiential learning environment of youngsters. Hypothetically have children at a young age describe how the actions of others affect them.

Other children need to be aware of how some of their callous behavior may impact others. Have this done in a circle of their peers.

3. Active listening skills taught. There’s a difference between communicating and ‘talking at’ people.

There is a difference between listening and ‘hearing your own self and your own message.’

The things we have learned in society has become part of our software on how we interact with others.

Without these mental disciplines learned, there are viruses of discrepancies in how to talk and communicate in an adult and effective manner.