Social Welfare and Liberals

The main reason I identify with liberals is social welfare.

Liberals try to push through legislation that enables the less fortunate in our society to have a chance.  I was able to have a chance because of government subsidies.  I was able to go to college because of government subsidies.  If they didn’t exist, or were severely weakened, then I wouldn’t have been able to live a childhood free of wondering where my next meal was going to come from or a childhood where I had to work and contribute my paycheck to helping my family.

We a liberals realize that while society isn’t necessarily about equality, it is about helping people maintain a certain minimum level of living.  The popular view right now is that the government should only provide people with the minimum they need to survive.  The term used to describe this policy is “subsistence.”  As a liberal I feel empathy toward families who are living at this level.  I feel especially saddened to hear about children who grow up in these households.  Why is it that a child should have to be held down and not provided with the same opportunity as any other child?  Why is it that a rich man’s right to sip mint juleps on a yacht in the Mediterranean is considered more sacred than an impoverished child’s right to eat?

Why is it that a person’s right to be happy is intertwined so tightly with their ability to excel in the marketplace?

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