At the end of the day, thoughts without actions equal little more than opinions.
Your opinion, as i interpret it, (and correct me if i interpret it wrong) is that as you said, the current welfare system is wrong. You state the reason for this being that it creates 'welfare cheats' that leech taxpayer dollars and undercut the capitalist social model. your opinion is based on your personal moral code, although i'm not saying it's an isolated view, and figures from the 2002 american census.
My opinion is that while this system may not be perfect, any harm it does, which is that taxes are slightly higher than they otherwise might be,* a lot of people who do not have work have somewhere to live and something to eat. Logistically, in my mind, this is a 'more good than harm' scenario.
You strongly believe the system need changing.
I don't think the system needs changing, but i'm not really all that passionate about it, and i'm open to suggestions.
Neither of us are really doing anything to change the system or keep the status quo.**
Result: nothing changes. You still strongly beleive what you believe for your reasons, and i still think welfare does more good than harm. Welfare isn't getting drastically changed, or scrapped in either of our countries.
The Man In Black wrote:
The point? I don't care. You did, if you're uncomfortable with you doing it, to the point where you feel the need to justify or explain it to me, I don't care either.
in clarification of this, i was using my experience with the welfare system on the varying sides of it as the reson for my opinion. It's not justification of my actions, it's to explain where i'm coming from. Sure, it's only anacedotal , and in no way hardcore evidence, but i' don't need hardcore evidence to have an opinion. Just to convince others that they should share it.
*(note: i too pay taxes.)
**(you wrote a paper, i said "interesting. got any more?")
also, the american census system only seems to go to 2002, while the Aus one goes to 2004. what up wid dat?
aus
USA
Edit: it's the cocaine that makes my brain shrink. Since i think with my penis, and i can now afford a hardcore drug addiction, the lil' feller's shrivelled up like a peanut.