Reply #149

1. No one is taking your teacher's money and giving it to someone who doesn't work. So that's not true in the 1st place.

2. What your teacher is talking about is taxes.

3. What taxes are: The government (all kinds of govt...local, state, federal, school districts, cities) take a small part of EVERY person's income, and puts it into a big pool. The pool of money is then used to make the government run FOR EVERYONE: street lights, schools, YOUR TEACHER'S SALARY, the people who answer the phone at the place where you get your driver's license, highways, bridges, the military to protect the country, fixing potholes, maintaining the beautiful parks, the Grand Canyon upkeep and patrol, the Social Security office that totals and sends out grandma's check, the govt office that sends us the car's license plates, and all those things.

4. In addition to those things I just said that taxes pay for, are a FEW things that the govt pays all or part of, for people who have run into some bad trouble. Like food stamps, welfare money FOR CHILDREN, paying PART of a low-income place for EMPLOYED people, unemployment compensation (what grownups get for a few weeks or months after being laid off through no fault of their own, so they don't become homeless, while looking for another job), free medical care of the lowest kind for those who HAVE NO MONEY AT ALL.

THE PEOPLE VOTED FOR THIS, BUT DID NOT VOTE TO TAKE AWAY ALL YOUR INCOME, OR EVEN THAT INCOME THAT IS MORE THAN SOMEONE ELSE'S. EVERYONE pays the taxes, unless they're dirt poor and don't have any money left over after buying food.

Those programs are called social programs. Most of the people who get help from those programs ARE WORKING. Most of the people who get help from those programs get help only for a period of time.

The reason the government does that is because the PEOPLE of the country voted that they want to help these people through those bad times, to help them stay afloat, to help them get on their feet, so they don't starve to death or become homeless. Remember...most of those people are working, but maybe they don't get paid much, or maybe they are not allowed to work enuf hours to get paid enough to buy food for the children.

The reason the people want to do those social programs is because we value the dignity and lives of everyone. We don't want people starving in the streets, if it's avoidable. It's called a safety net.

The social programs are not the same thing as someone who is a total deadbeat TAKING money out of your pocket. That is called theft. Like when you are mugged and they make you give them your wallet. That is not what a social program is.

Do you see the difference? Most of the people got together and decided they want to help others who are in extreme situations. There is a limit to the help. And there are restrictions about who can get the help.

This is a democracy. We decide things by vote. Anyone who disagrees is free to say so. But to say, basically, the that people are stealing and it's not fair to the people is flat wrong, and goes against what a democracy is. The PEOPLE themselves have decided. This is a democracy.

So about your grades. If your class is like the government, then your class gets to vote on whether points should be shared, regardless of how hard you work. Do you think your class would vote to do that? I don't either. That's because directly taking from one to give to another, for no good reason, that doesn't help the common good, doesn't make sense, and people wouldn't vote to do that. Your classmate who got 72 points isn't going without food, or without a home, or things like that.

Since your class is like a government, what if one of your classmates got really sick and didn't have the money to get some medicine? If your class voted on whether you should all pitch in some $ to pay for his medicine, do you think your class would vote to do that? I think so, too.