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From: ebh@cord.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: Poor People/Lazy People
Message-ID: <365@cord.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 9-Oct-86 15:17:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: cord.365
Posted: Thu Oct  9 15:17:29 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Oct-86 08:00:38 EDT
References: <1010@cad.cs.cmu.edu> <1050001@hpspkla.HP.COM> <1079@kontron.UUCP> <265@minnie.UUCP> <363@cord.UUCP> <2000@ihlpa.UUCP>
Reply-To: ebh@cord.UUCP (Ed Horch)
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Liberty Corner
Lines: 36

In article <2000@ihlpa.UUCP> gadfly@ihlpa.UUCP writes:
>The question is not whether these shiftless and lazy (didn't you forget
>"dirty"?) folks have a claim on your wealth.  The question is whether
>you have obligations to people you don't even know.  If you've got
>any semblance of ethics in your yuppie, designer brains you know that
>you *do* have such obligations.

I was going to mail the following to someone who responded to me, but
now it seems to be worth posting...

As this discussion continues on the net, I think we'll see some debate
on just what "truly in need" really means.  Are we talking about 3rd
generation welfare families with kids by the dozen? How about the
starving in Ethiopia? Or the bankrupt American farmers? Or my mother,
who can't afford her medical bills from last year's cancer? Or the
<whatever the number is> cancer patients that could all benefit
from a cure?

I think we all have to decide in our own minds just who is deserving
of the money we set aside for the "less fortunate".  I can't stand it
when some government agency takes my money and gives it to people I
don't believe should get it.  There are plenty of people that really
are in need, and there are plenty of mechanisms (read charities)
through which I can help those people.  It's not a matter of whether
I know personally the beneficiaries of my money.  It's a matter of
attacking the problems I feel are the most serious.

If I'm going to pay for somebody's drugs, don't I have a right to
want them dispensed by a doctor and not by a pusher?

Self-righteous?  Possibly.  But that's how I feel.

-Ed Horch   ihnp4!cord!ebh

P.S. to Ken:  It's too bad we didn't get a chance to talk more at
the net.party...