Reply to Let's join forces to scrap the current homeless shelter plan and start over

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You area all now seeing the problems with 'fairness'. Fairness actually means bringing those who did everything right, down, to equalize those who haven't. That's not actually fair, now is it?

There is an individual who did everything right - who worked hard, scrapped, saved - to ensure he/she would not continue the poverty cycle. Instead of lifting that person up as an example, the 'fairness advocates' did their best to demean that individual's accomplishments.

This type of progressive liberalism only works when the group buys into it or when it's forced on them. The pushback you see is not due to 'racism', 'bias', etc. It's due to INDIVIDUALS who do not want to participate in their own demise. This is not selfish or racist, or whatever other names you want to throw out there. It's due to the basic UNfairness of the program overall - the stripping away of individual rights for the 'common good'. If that sounds a bit like Communism? Well....it is....[/quote]

Love this line- "it's due to individuals who don't want to participate in their on demise."  God bless you, sir[/quote]

Thank you :)  See what a cup of coffee can do? LOL.

I'm tired of success being demeaned, and even worse, success that comes from one's own efforts. [/quote]

I don't understand.   How do you see a desire to help the homeless as demeaning your success?[/quote]

The placing of homeless shelters in wealthy areas in the name of 'diversity' will affect property values. [/quote]

OK, let's accept that this is true.   How does it "demean" your success?

The definition of "demean" is to "cause a severe loss in the dignity of and respect for (someone or something)."

When you say that a homeless shelter demeans your success, are you just saying that it diminish your financial well-being?  or are you trying to say something else?
[/quote]

It diminishes the importance of hard work as a factor in one's success. Note the way others in this thread treated the individual who worked his/her ass off to get out of poverty. [/quote]

I missed that part of the thread.  What did people say?[/quote]

Demeaned him/her. Basic sarcastic, mean shit people here say when they know they have no real retort. Implications that his/her hard work was not a factor.[/quote]

OK, that wasn't right.  But I still don't understand how helping the homeless demeans your hard work.   I've worked hard (and I've also been very lucky).   I'm fiscally comfortable.  I don't find that helping people in need demeans my hard work - the opposite - I feel that it glorifies my hard work.  My hard work means that I can live a comfortable life myself, and still be able to pay taxes and be charitable toward those in need.

And if people are mean and sarcastic, so what?   It won't hurt me, I'm secure about how I got to where I am, and I know there are people that are going through a lot worse than anonymous mean sarcastic people saying things to them.[/quote]

Look back at your statement and count how many personal pronouns are used. Me. My. The problem lies there.  The general mentality of telling people 'you didn't build that', 'luck got you there', etc, tells people that hard work is not the answer. Completely wrong message if you want people to lift themselves out of poverty. If, however, you are in control and want to maintain that control, it's exactly the right message to send - for you.

You are also talking about personally helping the homeless. If you want to donate fine. Have an unoccupied home? Feel free to allow a homeless family stay there on your dime.

The problem here is government officials taking person A's money presumably to help person B, and purposefully  hurting what person B has accomplished for him/herself in the process, by diminishing his/her return on investment (real estate).  Putting a homeless shelter in a residential neighborhood hurts property values. You can read all the self-serving government reports you want, but a realtor will tell you otherwise. And they would be correct. Unless that shelter is properly run, with such a full support network that it remains essentially invisible in the community (i.e. no crime, clean, etc), you will ALWAYS get negative effects. And there is absolutely NO indication these shelters will be even built properly, never mind run properly.[/quote]

I totally support you on hard work.  I totally agree that we need to instill a sense of taking responsibility for ourselves, looking after ourselves and working hard to improve our situation in life.  That's totally on us as individuals, I totally agree.  It likewise frustrates me to see young, able-bodied individuals moping around underemployed, just looking to scam benefits and coast at the taxpayer's expense rather than working to try and get ahead.   But beyond that, you've gone deep into conservative hyperbole and you need to strike a lot of what you said because it's not entirely valid.  First, "you didn't build that" isn't at all intended to demean hard work, and you have a totally wrong spin on what's meant by that.  It's about getting people to acknowledge that you didn't build it in a vacuum.  Nobody in America made it 100% on their own.  You can't build a successful business without the infrastructure that so many conservatives want to take for granted, whether roads, bridges, internet, import/export and things that the government helps provide, or stable banks and available, low-interest loans, et cetera - also things that the government helps to ensure.  Second, we DO in fact have a serious problem of wealth inequality in America which among other things makes it harder and harder for entrepreneurs to succeed.  The mom-and-pop brick and mortar shops get killed off by the big box Walmarts.  It's hard to compete against online retailers, et cetera.  And yes, many of those who are successful did in fact either get a leg up thanks to big inheritances or a lucky break.  It's a lot harder to compete in America today than it was decades ago, yet most conservatives are older and don't realize things have changed over the past several decades.   Likewise, since the Reagan era, we have the issue of trickle-down economic policies which favors the wealthy and large corporations, which has caused the middle class to be decimated, allowed small businesses to be undermined, while the rich get richer and big corporations get more powerful.  Nothing ever trickles down.  That's failed conservative economic policy in action.  And along with this is the lack of revenue to keep our roads and bridges from crumbling.  Just look at what "low taxes" and "limited government" has done in places like Kansas - utter disaster, put them deep into debt, and everything's falling apart.  [/quote]

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