Where do you stand, On different social things Options

[Hartmann]

I am guessing that given the more left leaning of this board, the answers are fairly obvious but I was wondering where people stood on the ideas of self-reliance, government intervention, and work.

My firm belief is that people as a whole must be self-reliant, that government should stay out unless it is needed, and hard work is necessary to succeed.

Where do you stand?

I listen to my brothers talk about what they want to do and I'm amazed at their goals. Nothing to do with hard work or being self-reliant but more along the lines of American Idol and "famous". It is one thing to dream of being a baseball player when you're young but I get this impression that we are becoming more and more focused on the easy route rather than the tough but rewarding one.

[Seeker]

IMO people should rely on themselves and the government should stay out of peoples' private lives. If you depend on anyone but yourself then your life card needs revoked and instant death becomes your last and final handout.

If everyone lived as in the book "Walden" the world would be better off.

Unfortunately the majority of us on Techsans are dependent on another source and that source is made up of a multitude of corporations. We work for one, eat food processed by one, drink water that was bottled by one etc. We live in a corporate-fascist country and the Democrats and Republicans are both members of the same party, the Corporate party. Corporations suck the vitality and meaning out of life.

[Inferia]

Unfortunately the majority of us on Techsans are dependent on another source and that source is made up of a multitude of corporations. We work for one, eat food processed by one, drink water that was bottled by one etc. We live in a corporate-fascist country and the Democrats and Republicans are both members of the same party, the Corporate party. Corporations suck the vitality and meaning out of life.

I think unless you live in the woods by your self, it is very hard to be purely independent. Society is built on interdependence, since the beginning of time. Men depended on women to bare children, women depended on men to provide food an shelter. If we're truly meant to be self sufficient, then we'd bore our own kids and kill for our own food.

I am personally fairly left winged, but I see the benefit of having corporations and a stable well balanced government. My dad's family were farmers, they grew their own food, they built their own house, dug their own wells, cut their own firewood and to some degree it's probably about as independent as a group of people can get. All in all it sounded like life was hard, probably unnecessarily hard. People around the world are working for an easier life, for themselves and for their children. There are places where people work so they can earn the money to buy bottled water because their lakes and rivers are too contaminated for people to drink, and for those who can't afford it, they drink the contaminated water. They spend that extra money so they can get foreign products because their own products are not regulated enough to be safe. I feel like there's nothing wrong with it, to a degree. Is it like what they say about scientists that scientists are lazy they always try to find the easiest way of doing something?