Should we force people to succeed? Or let people do it themselves?

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   WaffleCheeseposted 15 years ago

   Should we force people to succeed? (Liberal view) Or let people succeed themselves? (Conservative view)
   
   Also, is failure a good thing? Should we force people not to fail? Does failure lead to later, more pronounced, success?

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   rednckwmnposted 15 years ago

   please force me to succeed!

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3. 67

   Mishaposted 15 years ago

   He-he, why don't we just leave them alone? Live and let live, how bout that?

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      rednckwmnposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      that would be nice but the forums would be so boring!!!

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4. 67

   Mishaposted 15 years ago

   I can always tease you

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      rednckwmnposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      ha ha!!! what a relief

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5. 82

   kerrygposted 15 years ago

   Nobody is forcing anyone to succeed. The idea is to prevent anyone from failing so badly that it hurts our society:
   
   * people who don't have medical insurance drive up costs for the rest of us
   * people who can't afford healthy food (or any food!) have more health problems, which will drive up health care costs even more for the rest of us if they're uninsured and result in lost productivity at work for employers
   * people with poor educations require remedial courses in college and extra training on the job, driving up education expenses for the rest of us and costing businesses money that they can't use to hire more people
   * people with inadequate housing are more likely to have health problems and/or end up on the streets, where they can be victimized by crime, driving up law enforcement costs for the rest of us
   
   Do I need to go on? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure at the society level as well as the individual one. Certainly, some people are beyond help, but I really don't understand people who are so opposed to paying taxes that they would rather see the US become a third world country. One of the ways third world countries are defined is by their lack of social safety net.

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   Lady_Eposted 15 years ago

   People shouldn't be forced to succeed but they should be shown the Potential to Succeed.
   
   A lot of people have talents (sometimes hidden) that they don't know how to use, but if they have the knowledge its then their call, whether to run with it and make a success of their life or just take a back seat.

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   1. 41

      WaffleCheeseposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      If you can't afford health insurance, get a better job.
      If you can't afford food, work harder,
      If you can't get a good job, get an education,
      If you can't afford education, get a scholarship,
      If you can't get a scholarship, study harder.
      
      All problems of "I can't afford it", or "I can't do it" Are not solved by the government handing it to you. It is a result of quenching an insatiable desire to get ahead and put forth the required work.

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      1. 82

         kerrygposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         What if you're uninsured and you're too sick to work?
         What if you can't afford food because you're working two jobs to pay off your medical bills?
         What if you can't afford college classes, and your grades weren't good enough in high school to get a scholarship, and you're already working two jobs to pay off your medical bills, plus you have kids who have to be taken care of, maybe an elderly parent whose health is deteriorating....
         
         Look, I'm not saying problems like these (which are not at all unusual) can't be overcome, ever. Some of the kids growing up in cardboard boxes in third world slums are going to grow up to do great things, and they have more and stronger forces working against them than even the most impoverished American.
         
         But what benefit does our society gain from making it harder to overcome these sorts of problems?

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