Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said Sunday on Fox News: “I do support unemployment benefits for the 26 weeks that they’re paid for. If you extend it beyond that, you do a disservice to these workers.”
This statement strikes at the heart — were a heart to exist — of the divide between conservatives and liberals about whether the social safety net provides temporary help for those who hit hard times or functions as a kind of glue to keep them stuck there.The whole column is covered right there ... although it drones on.
The error is that Rand Paul is commenting on ALL HUMANS ... himself, Charles Blow, me, you, EVERYONE ... NOT on "the poor". Conservatives have met the poor and they is us (to paraphrase Pogo) ... we are ALL poor in one or more ways. Poor in spirit, poor in intelligence, poor in knowledge, poor in motivation, poor in wisdom ... the list is endless.
The world we live in provides us various motivations, some of them relatively gentle, some of them very harsh. A moment of inattention on the wrong road in the wrong conditions can be fatal ... without a 26 week recovery period, nor any chance for a do-over. Many things can impact our lives which make our road infinitely harder ... Charles Krauthammer is paralyzed and in a wheelchair, yet he is independent because while he is "poor in physical capability", he is strong in mind and motivation.
Blow (author of column) compounds his error of thought by name calling. Conservatives can have no heart if they disagree on the best methods for the motivation of ALL.
Humans ALL need the threat of the "lump of coal" to provide us with motivational assist from time to time, lest we become a "poor nation" as opposed to a "nation with some poor".
'via Blog this'
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