Do you care or think about your fellow american?

Andalublue said:

This seems like a fairly universal topic. Why do you limit it to Americans. Is it more important to care for fellow Americans than for your fellow human beings? Just interested why you used that phrase.

Click to expand...

"Is it more important to care for fellow Americans than for your fellow human beings?"
for this topic, YES
why? because im talking about the rights, laws and freedoms of this country. Something I can effect directly and daily.

If your not an american my decisions arent really going to help you or hurt you that much nor do we get the opportunity to do that much about it.

Yes in SOME RARE occasions we could try and influence our government to help a country, not pollute the world etc but again its just not an equal topic, its a different dynamic.

Yes, I care about my fellow Americans in the sense that I get really ticked off thinking about all the legislation passed over the last 30 years or so that truly hurt our citizens. Millions of good paying jobs lost to so-called Free Trade agreements. Millions of people losing their homes thanks to banking deregulaton capped off by Trillions of dollars added to the national debt to bailout a failed system. And for what? Oh yeah... to create a system that benefits maybe 5% of the population while the rest of us struggle just to buy groceries and keep a roof over our heads.

Sure, I care. I care enough to join the ranks of voters that support congressional term limits and campaign finance reform (ie- getting corporations OUT of the election process). 'Bout time, too...

O_Guru said:

Yeah but you idea of responsible could have nothing to do with freedoms rights and the constitution.
"responsible" is very subjective.

Not saying you think this way at all but IM sure there are people that think its irresponsible for a white person to marry a black person, or its irresponsible to let women vote, or let muslims on an airplane. Etc etc

But stopping any 3 of those things would definitely infringe on rights and freedoms.

Again I'm not saying you think any of these are true I'm just pointing out how using responsibility (totally subjective) as a deciding factor could also mean a person does NOT care about your fellow american.

Click to expand...

I don't consider any of those things to be a matter of responsibility. Those are personal preference. I'm more concerned with people making good choices in their lives that they can take care of and fund on their own without having to turn to society at large. That means people need to get an education, people need to get work experience, people need to have a work ethic so they can remain employed and advance in their chosen profession. People need to be responsible, not breed until they can afford to do so, not do stupid things in their lives and avoid potential pitfalls that can ruin their lives. There just isn't any excuse that any normal human being can't succeed in life, we give them all of the basics for free and all they have to do is take advantage of them.

Who you marry, what color they are, what gender they are, those have nothing whatsoever to do with responsibility.

Cephus said:

I don't consider any of those things to be a matter of responsibility. Those are personal preference. I'm more concerned with people making good choices in their lives that they can take care of and fund on their own without having to turn to society at large. That means people need to get an education, people need to get work experience, people need to have a work ethic so they can remain employed and advance in their chosen profession. People need to be responsible, not breed until they can afford to do so, not do stupid things in their lives and avoid potential pitfalls that can ruin their lives. There just isn't any excuse that any normal human being can't succeed in life, we give them all of the basics for free and all they have to do is take advantage of them.

Who you marry, what color they are, what gender they are, those have nothing whatsoever to do with responsibility.

Click to expand...

I agree but others disagree that why Ii asked you to clarify.
People do NEED to do those things you mention but it's not always that easy. Also what you call normal some disagree on and stand in they way of those people because they don't think they are normal.

O_Guru said:

I agree but others disagree that why Ii asked you to clarify.

Click to expand...

But responsibility, in the sense that we're talking about, has nothing whatsoever to do with those things, so they are irrelevant.

People do NEED to do those things you mention but it's not always that easy. Also what you call normal some disagree on and stand in they way of those people because they don't think they are normal.

Click to expand...

I used "normal" to differentiate them from, say, the mentally retarded or the physically disabled, people who are just not capable of doing those things on their own. They fall into their own category and ought to be helped. Your run-of-the-mill Joe who has no excuse for not being able to get out of bed in the morning and go to work, ignoring the current economic state for the moment, shouldn't have any excuses for not doing so.

Cephus said:

But responsibility, in the sense that we're talking about, has nothing whatsoever to do with those things, so they are irrelevant.

Click to expand...

Again I agree with you but others don't see it that way, our opinions doesn't change theirs, neither do the facts.

Cephus said:

I used "normal" to differentiate them from, say, the mentally retarded or the physically disabled, people who are just not capable of doing those things on their own. They fall into their own category and ought to be helped. Your run-of-the-mill Joe who has no excuse for not being able to get out of bed in the morning and go to work, ignoring the current economic state for the moment, shouldn't have any excuses for not doing so.

Click to expand...

I agree about 75% but I don't think its that cut a dry. But again I just want to know if a person cares/thinks about others when considering laws, rights, freedoms and legislation VS just their own needs/opinions.

The Mark said:

I have no idea how accurate this, but I get the impression that the Occupy groups are more uninformed or malinformed individules.

Of course, that's probably because IMO they should be protesting politicians along with the money that buys them.

My, but I'm cynical today...

Click to expand...

The occupy groups are protesting the money that buys the politicians. Where does the money come from? Sure, some of it is "old" money, but the people on wall street are stockpiling the money for the people who are bankrolling everything.

I know I do, there are to many out there that dont though and its sad and pathetic. Its a shame americans like these exist.

taxigirl said:

The occupy groups are protesting the money that buys the politicians. Where does the money come from? Sure, some of it is "old" money, but the people on wall street are stockpiling the money for the people who are bankrolling everything.

Click to expand...

I meant that I get the impression (mistaken or not) that occupy groups are protesting the money and ignoring the politicians.

Hell, sometimes I wonder which politicians are using the occupy groups, and why...

beerftw said:

most people care about themselves,and whos gonna pickup after their mistakes.no policy can ever fix this unless this country went full on socialist.

Click to expand...

Currently impossible, given the following:

• Neo-Liberal economics and Globalization, which forces countries into conforming to the global marketplace and its market liberalism
• Complete absence of any Social-Democratic party with significant influence
• The individualist nature of American culture, which basically prevents any significant collectivist/communitarian parties from forming

Unless something very drastic happens and the political landscape of America is shifted significantly, I don't see even the most remote chance of socialism; it's not something to worry over.