Quote:
|
Originally Posted by astrahl
Some of those grants are meant for living expenses too, but I digress.
|
If the grant is paying a salary, they are by their very nature paying for living expenses. I think that we can safely agree that grants to buy equipment are irrelevant to our argument. My point is that if the grant includes salary, the government could try to dictate how the scientist lives her life. For instance, they could tell her that she wasn't allowed to get an abortion even if she was raped. After all, it's my money and that's what I want (not really though).
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by astrahl
Gambling is not survival. Gambling is a luxury and welfare isn't intended for luxury items. If welfare is meant to be for assistance, it should be where assistance is needed. If somebody has enough of a cushion to gamble away public money, that money is better spent on somebody else who needs it more. Not to mention the insult to working, tax paying people who see their paychecks slashed, some of whom cannot afford to go and gamble money away.
|
I absolutely agree with everything you say here up to the point where it means that the government gets to dictate how welfare money is spent. If they want to make arrangement to pay power bills directly, fine. If they want to make arrangements to pay rent direct (which they already do, BTW), then fine. But if you're going to give people - adults - money, then you've got to trust them that they are spend it on what's important. You may not agree with them on what is or isn't important, but it's their right. Again, if you're going to ban gambling (which is a horrifically bad place to spend your welfare money), are you going to also ban children's toys? Lottery tickets? What about people that get social security? Are you going to ban it for them as well?
Again, I completely agree that people spending their welfare money in a casino is absolutely irresponsible and probably gives a pretty good insight as to why that individual is on welfare to begin with. However, how can you allow the government to regulate people this way if you're at all worried about them regulating your personal life?