Actually I AM since I'm forced to pay for a totally unnecessary war in Iraq.
But that's something your country does. It's not simply giving money to people. Draginol has explained the difference between government handouts and other government expenses before.
Either way, the people who were constantly persecuted by Saddam "needed help" a lot more then the people you propose to help.
And to top it off, YOU are already free to help the poor in America without the need for a government to tax you and send the money to the "needy". But you can hardly demand that the majority of Americans who wanted to get rid of Saddam try so without government supervision.
That's fine. I'm more concerned about people that already are American citizens.
So you do not help the needy but instead you help a certain nationality? Is that what social welfare is about? Not the needy?
In other words you don't live in the US or pay US taxes. So what precisely gives you the right to complain about US tax structure? To quote a phrase "you have no skin in the game."
We have that system in Europe too. Should I not have an opinion because I talk about something that also happens in America?
It can be argued that some portion represents exchange for goods and services but a large percentage is handout.
That is arguably true but it's not meant to be that way.
You are talking about corruption in one system and compare it to how another system is supposed to work.
If both programs were handled in an ideal way, there would be no handouts to companies. But there is no way, apart from abolishing social welfare, to run the social welfare office without handouts.
I am against handouts in both programs.
But OK then, how about Israel, is Israel liberal?
Yes.
Because they seem to have no problem cashing their yearly welfare check thanks to the US taxpayer.
They do have a great problem with doing so. But they need the money to defend themselves against the very enemy that the US also arms (for example Saudi-Arabia).
Israel is not sitting there with a chance to live a normal life, like your "needy" in America. Israel is constantly facing another Holocaust. It's not the same situation.
Now, if the US and Europe were to stop demanding that Israel give money and power to terrorist groups who allegedly represent the Arab population of the disputed territories, there would be less need for such money. But if you want to be involved, you better buy your ticket.
If it were up to me, Israel would not get a cent from the US tax payers and neither would the Arabs (or Iran) try to kill all the Jews. But as it stands, I'd rather take than the money than die.
My apologies to the US tax payer for taking the money. It's not the right thing to do. It is merely necessary. We (Israel and her supporters) do not want to be an American colony and would prefer a situation in which nobody would want to kill us all and we wouldn't need US tax payer money to stay alive.
TECHNICALLY, we don't need the money. It only helps avoiding greater wars. And for the US it's a good extra line of defence. In fact, if the US had listened to Israel, 911 could have been avoided. Can you do the maths? Would it have been worth the money given to Israel over the years?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x9847
(I assume this is a credible enough source for you?)
You can have any opinion you want.
You're also free to express your opinion.
However since you are neither a US citizen nor a US taxpayer your opinion has precisely zero weight.
There we go again. For you it's not facts or knowledge that count, but only whether one is American or not. Why can I not be right about something, even something American, without being American? I don't get it.
If our roles were reversed and I was criticizing how the UK does it's business (it is the UK isn't it) then it would be my opinion that would be meaningless. But we're not talking about the UK, we're talking about the US (though how precisely this relates to the thread's topic is beyond me).
I live in Ireland and I don't care who criticises our government system. If you have something to say about Irish social welfare (or how the system of taxing some and giving the money to others is either right or wrong), you are welcome to say it and I don't care whether you are an Irish or EU citizen or an American citizen or chocolate-covered.
Some things are simply irrelevant in a discussion, for example the nationality or citizenship of the person arguing.
