Originally posted by Matt Black:
So, the poor are all winos and wasters, are they? How very Christian 
Some poor are. So are some rich.
PA Jim: who is breaking the 8th commandment more
So, that's God's standard for obedience...intentionally "breaking the commandments less than the next guy"?
- rich corporations and their MDs who exploit accidents of birth, good education (privately paid for of course, wouldn't want our nice preppy kids mixing with smelly poor people, would we?), corporate tax break and their minimum wage employees who work just as hard as they do and yet get paid a pittance;or governments that seek to redress that gross inequality?
A worker should be paid a fair wage. It is a shame to see highly profitable businesses with employees who can't support a family. But that's a moral issue, not a legal one.
As to what you call "accidents of birth"...let's see.
Joe works hard, has an average job, saves his money, lives very frugally, and is able to send his kids to good schools.
Henry also works hard, but doesn't get paid much. He also does a good job with what he has, but can't afford private schooling for his kids.
Frank has a higher salary than both, but chooses only to work about half the time, and play golf the rest of the time while Joe and Henry are at work. Hence, he takes home less money over a year. He spends a lot of money irresponsibly, and has a hard time paying the bills.
Is the answer to deny Joe's kids the good education that their daddy worked so hard to give to them, in order to steal money from him to give it to A) Henry, who still won't have enough for private schooling (or perhaps doesn't see the need for it) and B) Frank, who will blow it on stereos and vacations?, leaving Joe with too little to send his kids to private school?
Doesn't sound too fair and equitable to me.
As for it all being done by private charity, well, I wish that were so, but unfortunately that is an unrealistic aim. If individuals are doing such a good job, how come so many Brits and Americans are below the poverty line? Yes, my wish is that private charity was so wide-spread that poverty would be a thing of the past in the West, never mind the two-thirds world, and government intervention unnecessary. But it ain't, hence the need for government to fill the void, both at home and abroad. For instance, our governments should write off the debts of the poorer nations; this is eminently Scriptural
First, it used to be handled privately in the US, for hundreds of years. It worked pretty well, and the best part is that it did not institutionalize the breaking of the eighth commandment.
Second, I turn the question back to you...if government programs work so well, why, with many, many billions spent on social programs do we have so many in poverty? (btw if you look at the "poverty line" in our nations, it would equate to high living in many parts of the world).
BTW...I am not comfortable with the title of this thread. I don not hate GW Bush. I very much hate what he is doing to our nation, along with many in Washington. But personally I wish him no ill.
