Conservatives because I want to understand.?

Question

I'm not looking for angry answers here. But just intelegant answers that can help me understand where you all are coming from.

1. Why do you value the life of an unborn baby, but not want to increase taxes to help care for the children who are born to familys who can't afford it. When you look at 3rd world children bloated from mail nutrition covered in flies and dieing is this what you want for the children of America?

2. Would you gladly pay for everything that taxes cover and do you believe it to cost less then what we pay already?

3. Write me a vision of what you see America to be without taxes? How does it function, and is there a large gap between rich and poor? Are you okay with people starving and suffering medically because they can't find jobs, and have no finacial support to help them through those times.

4. Do you give to charity and how is that different then taxes the government uses to help people.

5. How do you feel about more criminals set free, or

Answer 1

1) unborn children should be protected,period.We expect people to act in a responsible manner.If you can't afford to have children,don't get pregnant and expect the tax payers to support your irresponsible lifestyle.I'm 47 years old and have no children by choice.

2) we have a deficit due in part to the war and an increase in "entitlement " expenditures.

3) there cannot be an America without taxes.Asinine question.There can be an America whose tax dollars are spent in a manner that does not create a welfare society.

4)I give 1000.00's to charity,The difference is that I choose which charity to support and tend to choose those I believe are doing the best with MY money.

5) if you choose to be a criminal,then you should be locked up for punishment as well as the protection of those members of society who choose to obey the laws.

Answer 2

I really wish I had the time to answer your questions fully, you seem like you are willing to listen to reason. Since I don't have time to give fully detailed answers, I'll try to sum up conservative principles for you.

All life is precious. Committing murder because of a quality of life issue (born into poverty) or dollar figure (family can't afford it) is despicable. By that reasoning, we should murder all poor people instead of giving them help.

Two wrongs do not make a right. We MUST help our fellow man. But we must do it because we WANT to, not because our government FORCES us to. If I have the ability to help my fellow man, and I don't, that is wrong. If the government puts a gun in my face and steals my money, that is wrong too.

Nobody is for letting people starve and die in the streets. However, the government is not the answer because the government is a monopoly with guns. Stealing the freedom of 100% of the population to help 10% is bad mathematically, economicly, and morally.

Answer 3

1. At some point the unborn becomes a human child deserving of the same rights that you have, please tell me the exact minute at which this happens so we can draw the line.

2. Yes I would pay, until the 1930s virtually all the services you speak of were not provided by the government. Government bureaucracy is the least efficient way to provide services to the public sector. If you doubt me please do some research on the collapse of the Soviet Union.

3. There will always be taxes, what the government does with the tax money and how much they collect is the issue. In every society there has ever been or will be there will be a gap between rich and poor, in a free market economy the rich or winners is determined by the market place which tends to reward those with talent, ambition and knowledge In a socialistic economy the government determines the winner and those who control bureaucracy not those of marketable talent win. (please read "The Road to Serfdom" by Fredrich Hayek)

4. Yes, and would give more if taxes were less. Furthermore charity is freely given while taxes are taken by force and assessed by the state.

..."When you take from one man to bestow upon another you lessen the incentive of the first, the integrity of the second and the moral autonomy of both."  - The Sharon Statement

5. Liberals are free to devote themselves to helping anyone they want, why must government force people to do this? If you want a just society you cannot force people to do this you must convince them to do the right thing on their own. Government programs take the responsibility away from the family, friends and neighbors to help those close to them, you destroy family and community with these programs.

The greater percentage of the GNP a government seizes from its citizens the more totalitarian it becomes. Individual liberty and freedom stem from economic freedom. The power to tax is the power to destroy!

Answer 4

1.  I assume you're talking about abortion here, simple fact it splits conservatives and liberals, male and female, rich and poor.  This one doesn’t have a defined line, its all fuzzy.  As for taxes, a part of me thinks that people have to take responsibility for their actions.  We live in a world of 'blame someone else but not me' culture and that seems to fit right in.  I grew up with being told if you can't afford it don't do it which can appy to everything.

2.  Again i assume you're talking about government controlled vs. private controlled.  Most of what I've seen demonstrates that the government is a bloated, wasteful money sucking pit with little value coming back out.  At least I know where I stand with my insurance, unlike my government.

3.  in order for the government to function it has to have taxes.  I also don't think it’s the government's job to financially support people.  I've been out of work twice in the past three years, once for a year the second time for four months, I didn't go to the government for help, I went to temp agencies, job meetings, my local church (where I found my current and best job yet) instead of thinking someone else will do it for me.  As for medical care, that's a hard question.  I don't see a government controlled system working either.

4.  I give regularly to groups that I know and trust.  Again I don't trust the government, look at how screwed up FEMA was after Katrina, and this is the system you want to help people?  I'll stick to the groups I know will get the money to the right people.

5.  Criminals set free, I'd rather see 10 guilty men go then find one innocent man guilty.  I find this is more common of today's press, already convicting someone before trial has even started and without the facts.  But I’m curious are you asking that we sent innocent people to jail.  Remember our system works on the basis of 'Innocent until proven guilty' not the other way around.

Answer 5

1)  I think this is a false dichotomy.  The waiting lists for couples who want to adopt is years long.  I am adopted myself, and I will stand up for the other children who have not yet been born.

2)  Yes.  At the very least, the constitution authorizes states to nearly unlimited powers of taxing and spending.  Its the federal government that taxes and spends illegally.  If California wants a completely different medical or educational system than Texas, that is valid in the framework of our (supposed) law.  The reality is that everything goes through D.C. at a major loss of efficiency (corruption) and we spend all day debating a one-size fits all solution for a nation of incredible diversity and differing needs.

3.  No one imagines a nation completely without taxes except for liberals attempting to discredit conservatives.  I can imagine a federal government restricted to the constitutional powers, and it would save us about $2 trillion a year that the states could use on whatever they like.

4.  Yes, the difference is called "free will" versus "under threat of imprisonment"

5.  Prisons are overburdened with criminals who have done no harm to anyone, yet have been found guilty of self-destructive behavior.  If we did not have to pay for peoples' bad choices, we wouldn't have to make bad decisions illegal when they only hurt an individual.

Answer 6

Short answer:

The people agree on basic values.

Social welfare is why we live together, and why we are glad to pay our fair share of taxes.

The real split is not between libs and conservatives, it's between what the people want and what the government does.

Our administrations, Dem and Rep, at least since 1945, have been putting half of our money into the Pentagon, insisting that if we want our social services, our day care and nursing homes, our roads and clean streets, our firemen and garbage collection, we have to raise taxes.

Neither party can manage to say NO, we don't have to raise taxes.  The US has plenty of money. But when the generals themselves are telling us that only 10 to 20% of our annual budget is for the common defense, I think we should listen to them instead of politicians doing 'favors' (Ken Lay, eg) funding their campaigns, and use the other 80% for the social needs of our people, because these are political decisions.  Don't we deserve to benefit from our money?  Is that too much to ask?

Our roads and cities look like they haven't had an update since the 1940's. There's plenty of work, plenty of jobs.

Liberty means that the goverment, at every turn, has no business in moral choices.  To restrict anyone's liberty is to restrict everyone's.  Each administration, it its turn, has failed to extend our rights and liberties, and has had unquestioned obedience from the 'free press', and the current one especially so.

What has happened to the right to be left alone?

You must better define Criminal.

Answer 7

Before directly answering your question, please understand that so called poverty in this country is due to behavior and choices. Poverty in the U.S. is NOT a social, or economic issue that government can fix. If people are left with no choice but make proper choices with their lives, then there would be very few children born into families that could not afford health care. Fewer than 5% of the people living in poverty in the U.S. lack the ability to raise themselves out of it.

1) If, in my neighborhood, there is a family that have children that need health care.

  A) I go door to door, taking up a collection to help them out. I tell everyone that all of the money will go to the children, and it does.

  B) I go door to door with a gun, and demand that everyone give an amount from 15-35%(depending on income) of their money to take care of these and other children, that I will deem as needing it. I then tell them that 50% of the money I force  them to give to me will go to me, to cover administrative costs. Another 20% will be wasted because of fraud.  30% will actualy end up in the hands of the parents, after I put a gun to the heads of the doctors telling them to reduce their rates for these patients.

Which of these scenarios is more compasionate.

A) obviously. B) is the system that the federal government uses. They may not directly put a gun to your head, but they do use the threat of the power of the force of government to take your money, and give it to someone less productive.

Also remember that ALL capital(read money) is generated by the private sector.

2) If we first eliminated the federal government's role in to areas that there is no reasonable need, then there would be fewer services that would need funded. I am talking about  retirement(social security), taking care of the people(health and human services), federal funding(and along with that control) of education. I would gladly pay higher local and state taxes, just to eliminate about half of the federal government's control into areas they can not efficiently manage.

3)There will always need to be taxes to some extent. At the federal level, we could reduce the scope of the reach of government to areas that the federal government is actualy madated by the constitution IE national defense, and foriegn affairs.

4) I give to charity, but only ones that can prove that more than 90% of each dollar donated actualy is used for the purpose it was donated for. On average, 78% of every tax dollar is wasted on administrative costs and fraud. There is a huge difference between private and public funding of programs.

5) Criminals need to be detained, but we have reached a point, that almost every criminal breaks a federal law of some sort. This tells me that there are way to many federal laws, and along with that, to much federal involvement in everyday life. As for the mentaly ill, there is that long forgotten aspect of life called the FAMILY.

Answer 8

Thank you for asking these important questions.  Hopefully people will think about them.

Answer 9

1. Unborn baby is still a life. People should learn to plan for family, before they find out they could not manage it.

Third world problems need to be solved by 3rd world people.

If You keep feeding the Seagual, they will never learn to catch the fish. American children is dying already, its cause, unhealthy diet, by their own choice.

2. I will gladly pay what I need without Gov help. Gov has not show me that they could manage my life better than I.

3. Taxes are needed for many public use, but there are also  abuses of Tax fund. There is a gap between Rich and poor, but not as bad as the middle east , or third world countries.

There are plenty of Jobs, if you look for it. It may not give you cable TV or fancy car, but it put foods on the table.

4. Yes I do give to Charity monthly, through our Church.

I trust my church more than any government officials.

( The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints )

Helping each other is important, but that does not mean babying everyone.

Inorder for a nation to be strong, individuals has to be self reliance.

We can help needy people by helping them to stand back up, and not let them become dependent on food stamp or Gov. aid.

I use to live in New York, I see many people living on Gov. aid, and they think they deserve it, mean while they becoming lazy and would not even wan to work, because it easier to get Gov. aid. Now , do you want America to be like that?

Answer 10

i am not to sure where i stand party wise but i do have opinions ( like most people ) about the topics you bring up.. so here goes~

1) I believe in free choice when it comes to ones own body and what they will and won't do with it. But, I also believe that the people of the United States should not be responsible for caring for my child as it is my responsiblity to make good choices when it comes to rather or not I bring a new person into this world and if I can afford it which is the bigger issue.

2)I would not gladly pay for everything taxes pay for because frankly I do not think our tax dollars are always spent correctly. I personally think that the goverment does need X # of dollars in order to operate BUT just like the general public, they need to invest the money in things that generate income. I mean, we do not collect taxes in order to pay for our decisions... if we need more than we have we have to generate income or make different decisions on what is a prioritiy and what is not...

3)I don't see America functioning without taxes... I can tell you that I really believe that if our money was used differently we wouldn't have the issues we have here... why are we sending money to help 3rd world countries when we have our own starving or in need of medical help? Do I think we should aid other countries? sure to a certain extent but we need to aid them in a way that it is not on going and in a way that does not require them to lean on us 100%. This war is another thing... when we went over there and found no weapons of mass destruction we should have got our butts out of there... this war has taken a lot of money away from us and look what is happening to our economy...

4)I do not give to charity. I have no one offering to pay my medical expenses nor those of my children. I do not have anyone offering to purchase school supplies, clothes or their lunches therefore I feel no need to take away from my family to help another... I realize it may sound harsh but I barely make enough to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, medical attention when they need it and I far from qualify for any assitance... go figure!! maybe i should lose my ambition, get a trailer, quit my job, sell my car, have some more kids and then let the goverment care for me and mine.. and that is a reality for some and it sucks for the rest of us paying for it.

5)I think a lot about criminals being set free... I care about child molesters never seeing the light of day so my children can walk to and from school every day without fear... I care about abductors never seeing the light of day for the same reasons.... I care that the laws governing the amount of time people are or ( in alot of cases ) are not being sentenced too do not fit the crime nor the publics view/opinions about sharing the world with them. We all have the right to live in peace yet we are spending billions of dollars on wars in other countries and we can't even figure out how to condem our own for the crimes commited where my children and your children play....

and that is all i have to say about that....

Answer 11

1 --  I value all life, especially when that life needs more care than anything else in the world (babies).  I didn't choose to veto an additional 30 billion for children's health care.  I need to familiarize myself with that issue to be convinced that the 30 billion already apportioned for this task is inadequate.

4 -- I give to like the quarter bins in fast food places, not much but every little bit helps.  The difference is it's my choice.  If I give to the Red Cross, or Toys for Tots, or Habitat for Humanity then I know how my money is being put to use, whereas the government fudges the numbers constanty; takes on too big a project here, so it raises taxes there to compensate.

5 -- Uh, no, not in favor of criminals being set free.  Unless they've been rehabilitated (not usually the case).

Answer 12

1.  Those third world babies are usually starved by their own Governments, or a rebel group or both.

That scenario is not going to happen in America. This was never the case before the Welfare state and it certainly will not happen now that we have one.  

Apples and Oranges.  The First World is simply not the Third world; sorry.

2. If you mean social services, the cost and the tax that is taken for that cost is bloated by the inherent inefficiency of any socialistic bureaucratic system.  

3.  Actually without taxes of any kind a modern society can not function.  So I assume that you mean income taxes.  Well the income tax is actually biased toward the rich, as even though they pay more they can afford the more that they pay far better than say the day labor that pays less--in total--but more in proportion to his total income.  So actually if you abolished to income tax the working poor would benefit right now today, and the wealthy..well they will remain wealthy under any system even communism.  

For the second part, before the income tax and the new deal we had little in the line of starving people in the streets, or lingering people dieing from illness.  That is Marxist propaganda.  

4. Charity is the backbone of any civilized society.  And yes even though I am dirt poor, I am good enough to give to those that are in greater need than I.  Charity is different from taxes in that it comes from a inner sense of right, rather than a compulsion that is enforced with the ATF.

5. Criminal should not be just set free.  They should be forced to preform useful labor at no wage for restitution to the community.  I am a convict and I am telling you that prisons are not as bad as those whiners that cry all day and night about them make them out to be.  You have 5 sets of clothes, candy, TV, weights, tracks to run, exercise bars....etc.   Prisons could be scaled back and still not be cruel or inhumane.  This being said we have an awful lot of stupid, agenda driven incarceration in America.  The war on Drugs is a good example.  Or the Man must go to jail if the Women accuses him of anything.  We need to get back to the no harm no foul way of conducting criminal justice,and save prisons for the truly incorrigible amongst us.

Answer 13

OK I will play:

1.    Because we know what the government does when it gets a tax buck aboutr 90 cents goes to waste and about 10 cents makes to that child.  So I donate to church charities that get about 95+ cents to that child and work on mission trips to those countries to teach them to grow food and take care of themselves.

It is a proven fact that conservatives give more of their own time and money than to do liberals and Christians more so.

2. Considering some of the tax projects like roads and such we use it is good thing.

3.  It would surpise you before FDR we ahve poor and not a big tax welfare society.   Churches took on that role and people were encoourage to work  rather than demanding to be taken care of.  We do have education in this society with many job programs.  The poor now feel they are entitled to all the benifits without working. What is sad the poor in this country have TV, computers, homes, cars and we should pitty them?

4. See #1

5. How do you feel about more criminals set free,

Answer 14

Let's break it down:

(1) I value ALL human life, and I think that allowing a mother to abort a child in the name of personal convenience cheapens the value of life and leads to a society where people kill each other without conscience when life has no value.  And your analogy of third world children holds no water here -- even the most poverty-stricken people in this country live in the lap of luxury compared to those in third world countries.  In addition, many of these "families" that are having children that they supposedly can't afford contribute NOTHING to America.  All these people do is sit around all day, expect the hard-working American taxpayers to take care of them, and then have more children that they only want because it means more welfare money.  What I want for the children of America is a country that is not burdened with the care of people who are, quite frankly, too freakin' lazy to care for themselves.  They don't want to work, they shouldn't be allowed to eat -- PERIOD.

(2) We already pay everything that taxes cover, but now our government wants more control over the private citizen and more of our money.  The bigger our goverment gets, the more power it has to take our money and our civil liberties.  We're already seeing it -- trans fats are being banned and in some states you're not allowed to smoke anywhere but inside your own home or your own car.  Add to that the plan for Universal Health Care and we're marching down a road toward total government control.  The politicians are basically telling us that we're too stupid to make our own food choices, we're too helpless to get medical care for ourselves, and that they're going to force certain people to restrict their behavior in the name of not offending someone else.  Our government was limited in power by the Founding Fathers for a reason, and that reason was to allow maximum freedom for the citizens.  Unforunately, many have forgotten that with freedom comes responsibility.

(3) Want a vision of America without taxes?  Go back to the turn of the 20th century.  There WERE no income taxes.  All the money the government needed came from the U.S. Customs Service in the form of tarriffs.  Would such a system work today?  Probably not, but again, raising taxes and giving more money to the government (an instititution that has proven over and over again that the only thing it is good at is wasting taxpayer dollars) is not the answer.  There will always be a large gap between rich and poor as long as the poor keep wringing their hands and saying "It's not fair!" instead of making money the old-fashioned way (READ:  EARNING it).  Our Constitution promises equal opportunity but not equal outcome, so those who work harder, do better, come up with new innovations and creative ideas, and take risks are the ones who should be appropriately rewarded for their efforts.  Those who do the minimum to get by deserve just that -- the minimum to get by.  As for people suffering because they can't find jobs, I have no problem giving such people a hand-up, but I have a HUGE problem giving them a handout.  If you live in an area where there are no jobs, then you have to move -- that's life.  If you have fallen on hard times, then there should be aid available to help you pay your bills.  Heck, I'm all for job training and job placement assistance for people who are out of work but are trying to support themselves.  It's those who CAN work but REFUSE to that keep getting money handed to them with no strings attached that I have a problem with.

(4) Yes, I contribute to charity.  It's different from paying taxes to the government because any charitable organization you care to name has less overhead than the government, so you can rest assured that most of your money is going to help the people or the cause you want it to help.  Not so with the government.  We have 535 people on Capitol Hill who decide how to spend billions of dollars every year for over 300 million people, and a lot of that money they take and stuff into their own pockets.  They also blow a lot on pork projects so they can get reelected.  So giving money to charity will get money and relief to people a lot faster and a lot more effectively than giving it to the government.

(5) Criminals in our country should be punished.  Thanks to certain individuals in government and throughout our history, the needs of the few have been allowed to outweigh the needs of the many.  People who belong in mental institutions because they are a danger to themselves and others are allowed to walk free.  Criminals are coddled and have more rights than victims.  They're allowed to walk free from crimes they committed on technicalities.  They get free cable, free Internet access, free libraries, free gyms, and free room and board at the cost of the American taxpayer as a reward for committing crimes.  This has to stop.  We need a return to the days when "hard time" actually meant something.  We need to bring capital punishment back and make it mandatory for cop killers and those who premeditate and carry out murders -- how is anyone supposed to be safe when someone puts himself/herself in the position of God and thinks he/she has the right to decide when someone else dies?  We also need to get the mentally ill off the streets and back into hospitals where they can be cared for and kept from harming others.  All these things need to be done in the name of safety and security for law-abiding Americans.

BOTTOM LINE:  Conservatives believe that the government should be kept small and kept limited in power so we don't end up being the next Soviet Union.  We also believe that individual citizens are responsible for taking care of themselves and their families, obeying the law, and contributing to society in some way.  Most importantly, we believe that being an American entitles you to freedom and opportunity -- nothing more.  It doesn't guarantee you an education, or a job, or lots of money, or a home, or free medical care, or a retirement.  Those are things you have to go out and earn for yourself.  When you simply hand these things to people they start to believe they're entitled to them without having to give anything back, and over time they expect these things.  And these people cause more of a rift between the rich and poor and more economic problems for this country than anything else.  It's time for Americans to stand up, grow up, and take care of themselves.  The spirit of America was not achieved by being lazy and playing the victim card every time something goes wrong.  It was built out of ingenuity, character, and HARD WORK.  We need to get back to those basics.