[MD] Down the road of mediocrity

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Platt]
Food stamp baskets are filled with goodies many paying customers can't afford.

[Arlo]
Is there abuse in the system, sure. Do most who receive assistance 
abuse the system, no. But again, if its so wonderful to use food 
stamps, why haven't you altered your life to do this, Platt? Just 
think, go on food stamps and you could be dining on caviar and 
lobster tails aboard your private yacht. By the way, what "goodies" 
have you seen the poor buy with food stamps that the "paying 
customers" can't afford?

[Platt]
As for "dependency" in general and the effect of government welfare 
programs, read the following, commented on by Ant McWatt:

[Arlo]
I read it when you sent it around. So what? Providing basic health 
care for all citizens is better than letting the rich get medical 
help and the poor die unattended. Are a few incompatibility problems 
worth saving the lives of those who, in America, would be untreated? You bet.

[Platt]
That old socialist saw of envy doesn't work any more.

[Arlo]
Envy? Only egoists would think anyone envies them. Most of the 
working poor (if not all) I talk with all want to work, but with jobs 
and salaries draining away to corporate profits, there is little to 
do. Or they are working in areas where the only gigs are low-income 
box-mart wages. You really don't live in reality, Platt, I get the 
sense of "let them eat cake!" being your primary way of approaching 
the poor. And yes, I know you'd like to use shame to control other 
people, make them feel miserable and horrible and wretched like they 
deserve. But there is no shame in finding oneself in a tough 
predicament. Again, the shame should go to those who promote the 
financial and employment drains while advocating that the poor are 
simply "lazy" and should be left to go hungry and stay sick. It is 
the Social Darwinists who should be ashamed, Platt, but I gather 
their righteous egos will never allow that happen.

"The sun beams down on a brand new day
No more welfare tax to pay
Unsightly slums gone up in flashing light
Jobless millions whisked away
At last we have more room to play
All systems go to kill the poor tonight"
- Jello Biafra, from "Kill the Poor"