((((Chey)))) ~ I have stepped on that soapbox a number of times. And I agree with your perspective....I believe in a social safety net, but I also think that there is a "significant minority" of people who habitually use the system. And that bothers me too, becuase I pay a lot of taxes and work really hard so those people don't have to.

When I was growing up, my mom was a teacher ina school district where a woman's teaching salary was a "supplement to her husband's income." Of course, my mom and my dad were divorced and he couldn't afford to pay his $50/mo child support. So...we lived $500/year above the poverty line -- and often didn't have money to buy food at the end of the month -- because we didn't qualify for those programs. And I watched kids who *did* qualify have a much better life than we did. But we worked hard, and saved our pennies, and muddled through....as most good people do. I respect the hell out of my mom for that.

I try to have faith in the system. And I know what we have is better than *nothing.* But I also know that a lot of people take advantage. I guess that's the price we pay.

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Life is too short not to love and be loved....preferably multiple times in one night.

I think men talk to women so they can sleep with them and women sleep with men so they can talk to them. ~ Jay McInerney