I can't explain this one to you Rumi. I got through college on scholarships, pell grants, work-study, and just about any other government handout I could get. I begrudge no one who needs a helping hand. I think it's all a matter of empathy--the ability to yourself in someone else's shoes. For whatever reason conservatives simply can't do this while those of us on the more liberal side are able to.

And the thing is I am willing to bet that I have repaid in just one quarter the full of my obligation to the federal government via their help when I needed it. Helping the poor isn't a sunk cost but the few who make it are able to repay in taxes for all those who didn't. This is why the wealthy SHOULD be taxed simply to repay the benefits they gained from the federal government--either in government paid infrastructure or from the direct helping hand they were given that allowed them to be where they are now.

Not necessarily rumWhen my husband walked out and left me with 3 sons 2 still in diapers I did go on assistance for a while first time to go to school after that had help with housing and again government paid for me to go back to school. Thing is I always had a job and got minimal help and there was always a plan for moving forward to improve and be independent. When I went to nursing school I had been a CNA for 12 years it hard back-breaking work and I had hurt my back to many times and knew I couldn't keep doing it so at 40 I worked doubles on the weekends to get full time and went to school mon/fri. What most people are upset about is some people see welfare as a way of life you don't have to work for and believe me I have seen that up front women who have five or 6 kids collect 2,000 dollars a month and a shit load of food stamps me and mine had to eat grits and beans for a week till payday. Yea rum please play the pity party song for them me I felt like really angry and totally pissed off. Seniors yes disabled yes TEMPORY HELP, yes but these lifers need their butts kicked out of their nice government homes their buying and the government is helping PAY for while they sit on their butts collecting and doing NOTHING That is what people are pissed about

When my granddaughter was 16, she reported that her attitude toward democrats was based on their using her tax dollars to care for welfare queens. (Her family love Fox.) Democrats are seen as takers by many republicans who use this service (OPP). I have seen empathy as a quality that separates the sides and was pleased to see that some non-democrat users have been forced to accept government assistance and therefore do not see all government assistance programs as waste all the time. I had really thought that republicans probably thought that empathy was a naughty word, equating it to socialism.
The big thing is the allocation of money. The first programs to pass republicans' lips at budget-lowering discussions are the assistance programs. That would have a major influence on the perception that republicans lack empathy.
In the real world, as rumi so eloquently stated, there will always be takers. It would be sad to punish the truly needy along with the others. As our republican friends tell us, it is American to presume innocence. Even though it seems sometimes that all republicans believe that all democrats are stupid and power-hungry, I was pleased today to hear from some republicans that at least in government assistance, there may be some room to compromise.

Not necessarily rumWhen my husband walked out and left me with 3 sons 2 still in diapers I did go on assistance for a while first time to go to school after that had help with housing and again government paid for me to go back to school. Thing is I always had a job and got minimal help and there was always a plan for moving forward to improve and be independent. When I went to nursing school I had been a CNA for 12 years it hard back-breaking work and I had hurt my back to many times and knew I couldn't keep doing it so at 40 I worked doubles on the weekends to get full time and went to school mon/fri. What most people are upset about is some people see welfare as a way of life you don't have to work for and believe me I have seen that up front women who have five or 6 kids collect 2,000 dollars a month and a shit load of food stamps me and mine had to eat grits and beans for a week till payday. Yea rum please play the pity party song for them me I felt like really angry and totally pissed off. Seniors yes disabled yes TEMPORY HELP, yes but these lifers need their butts kicked out of their nice government homes their buying and the government is helping PAY for while they sit on their butts collecting and doing NOTHING That is what people are pissed about

“Bottom-feeders” is how the GOP generalizes people who need public assistance for whatever reason, overlooking most are the elderly, disabled, veterans and children (those rotten little petty scroungers playing age games and faking amputations and such). Reagan framed it perfectly for the party: “Welfare queens” and “big bucks.” I liked him as president but this was detestable, a savage assault on Americans in desperate circumstances. Good if it has not happened to you but it can happen to anyone.

The poor and needy demonized over and over by Republicans. Why? Because Democrats favor social programs. Republicans say it is just a ploy to garner base voters. Perhaps and both parties have their base. Is fawning over the elite 1%, doing everything to improve their profits, somehow morally or rightfully better or superior? Somehow not self-serving?

For me, it is just the right thing to do and I am not up for election. There are millions like me. You don't abandon any citizen in this country. Leave none behind. How anyone can say it is not the right thing to do is beyond my comprehension. Refine the system to best counter fraud, but ending or cutting these needed programs indiscriminately to make room for useless Corporate Tax Cuts is criminal negligence.

Abuses? Of course. Any system in place for any purpose has its abusers. Human nature. But we don't close banks because some people game the system. Drug testing was a big push by Conservatives, showing Reagan and the party were not racists but fiscal pragmatists.

What happened? Out of more than 263,000 applicants, in thirteen states, less than 1 percent were rejected from TANF for drugs. The cost? Over 200,000 useless dollars. (https://thinkprogress.org/states-cost-drug-screening-testing-tanf-applicants-welfare-2018-results-data-0fe9649fa0f8/
Rick Perry, who owned a drug-testing lab and then had a financial interest in it, helped pass a law to drug test Florida's welfare recipients. So very, very Republican.

This is my stand: Any and all governments in the world need to care for the vulnerable and needy. It is their basic rights for the state to help them. It is that nation's primary order of business and primary concern...before military defense.