Anony Mous, thanks for your post stating the documentation for your views. I notice that while we agree that certain government policies are in place (such as section 8, child support, tax breaks and other left-wing policies), we differ greatly in our ideas of the interpretation of the policies. I perceive the intent of the policies you mention to be what the politicians/government saying they are for, namely to help people who are in need and in dire straits. You instead perceive they are for something radically different, namely to keep people in need and in dire straits - to trap them into remaining in such a deplorable state. It is like, figuratively speaking, that we are living in two different worlds. We do agree however that one of the reasons for these programs by the Democrats is to gain and keep voters. It will likely be hard for us to reach agreement/consensus as to what is the intent of these programs.
Maybe part of the reason we see things differently (besides us probably coming from very different social-economic demographic backgrounds), is that I tend towards interpreting written and spoken statements very literally and I tend to believe people mean what they say, unless I later discover evidence that they are untrustworthy. [My literal thinking approach when applied to understanding the Bible is one of the main things which led me to eventually disagreeing with many of the Watchtower's interpretations of biblical prophecies and thus also to me ceasing to believe in their religion.]
President John Kennedy said he wanted to help struggling people and President Lyndon B. Johnson said he wanted to create a society in which poverty would be eradicated. Johnson said he wanted to create a great society. As a result many government spending programs, with the stated aim of helping poor people, were created during the Johnson administration. Me, my sisters, my mother, and mother's mother and step-father (all JWs, except that I am now unofficially an ex-JW) believe that the programs were created to help people - not to hold them back from making progress.
I know a number of poor people in my community who are receiving government assistance of various kinds. Many of them are over 70 years old with infirmities, many though under age 60 are physically disabled (sometimes from a severe accident) or mentally ill. Some have major health problems, such as diabetes (sometimes due to their dietary choices, but sometimes due to their genetics), obesity (sometimes due to their eating habits but not always), or lung disease (most of these are smokers of various substances), Some have lost their job and their house or apartment and are wanting to obtain a good job and a house or apartment again. Some of them vote for Republican Party candidates and some others of them vote for Democratic Party candidates. Some have a college/university degree (and some of those once had a high paying highly skilled job) and some others never attended a college/university.
