[MD] Down the road of mediocrity

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[Platt]
I know. You want to be known as Arlo the compassionate and generous with other
people's money. I prefer to be known as Platt the self-sufficient and promoter
of freedom from dependency.

[Arlo]
I don't want to be known as anything. And we have different ideas as to what
leads one to be non-self-sufficient. You seem to think laziness and sloth are
primary factors, where people are lured by the high-life of welfare. I think
bad things happen to good people, and economic forces on a high level
(financial and employment drain) have much more to do with overall
impoverishness than simple "sloth".

Look at the following Poverty Map, showing poverty trends across the USA.

http://www.censusscope.org/us/map_poverty.html

By your reckoning, this would prove that Southerners are typically lazy and
slothful, while the North East Corridor is populated by motivated workers. It
would also seem to indicate that the near-entire populations of West Virginia
and Kentucky are leeches who have choosen to suck the life out of those in the
North East. 

What this map represents is employment trends, really. The death of the rust
belt and the rebirth of technology in the north east, among others. It is not
that Pennsylvanians are more motivated to work than West Virginians, but that
the work is here and not there. Should the entire population move from there to
here, of course, would still leave as many unemployed. There are only so many
jobs to go around.

And while self-sufficiency is a wonderful thing for you to preach, it doesn't
change the reality that who does and who does not receive medical care should
not be left to market forces. All this does is reify the idea that people are
only as valuable as their wealth.