I'm but an amateur student of antiquity but a slight mystery you'll often see even among historians is how the Roman Empire survived the Crisis of the Third Century; often times emperors were children or otherwise terrible leaders intensely focused on familial squabbles, or frivolities. And many were highly ineffective as managing the empire. A similar question is how the Chinese almost thrived during the Warring States Period.

In both cases, I think savvy historians have concluded that the legacy and reach of civic institutions and bureaucratic competence outside of center allowed the empires to continue

Note, however, that in both cases, what held both states together for a few centuries -- in addition to deeply ingrained technocratic competence at maintaining a complex civil society -- were increased militaritarism, authoritarianism, and an increase in localized authority and the winding down of complex civil structures and trade schemes to match the devolution of centralized governments.

LOL @ people blaming poor people for "mooching" off the government but not rich people for creating government and business policy that actively punishes the poor and allows the rich to steal from both poor people and the government.

Just showing the incongruity in politician's characterization of the poor as cheaters/underserving versus wealthy people who almost certainly actually cheat the tax system at a much higher rate than poor people cheat social services.

"It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer"
--Sir William Blackstone, 1765

"It is better that ten poors starve than that one lazy ass leeches off the state"
--some of my relatives, 2017

Take Jason Chaffetz for example. He has said in the past that poor people should buy healthcare instead of iphones but says that congresspeople on their $174k salary and should also get a housing stipend because of the DC housing market. He also got surgery recently using his government funded healthcare.

****ing Calvinism, man. The poors are only poor because they are undeserving, and the rich are blessed and therefore should get whatever they get.

POTUS

its in human nature to dislike cheaters. we on the left certainly dont like undeserving welfare recipients either, but the conservatives care alot more. its important to be wary of cheaters in society and punish them or else society will degrade and fall apart.

the thing is that its not about moral corruption. your parents are probably fine people. its all about moral diversity. you are going to argue with all your force to defend what you "feel" is right, and so will your parents and conservatives and libertarians. so alot of ppl around here would serve themselves well if they would take a more descriptive view on politics instead of the constant screaming.

The right doesn't hate cheaters though. Tax frauds? No problem. Dude on his third marriage? That's basically every big name in modern conservatism. It's extremely disingenuous to frame it as hating cheaters or some sort of christian values.

Let us embrace all the colours of the morality spectrum.

Nah, it's absolutely morally corrupt when you're willing to strip funding from programs that help the poor because you're worried that, in addition to helping the poor, it might also help undeserving people.

I love my parents, and I place much more blame on the politicians and media complex that force feeds them these ideas than I do on them personally. Like a lot of this country, though, they've got morally abhorrent political views, and they don't have the time or the inclination to do the reading required to change them.

I do not know your parents, your relatives, their circumstances, their values, etc. We contain multitudes. Millions of people will genuinely believe a wide array of things. Etc. etc.

That aside, and in general: if modern America and the modern Republican Party with Trump and Fox News at the lead has taught you anything, it's that you should be very, very skeptical about your average right-wingers virtue signaling.

And from there: remember that when a vast majority of right-wingers fume about people cheating the system, and the lazy abusing the welfare state -- they mean black people. Almost exclusively. Sometimes the Venn diagram extends out to other brown people. When they say they can't stand undeserving types, or people cheating the system, or lazy asses leaching -- they mean black people. Cheating or not. Usually you talk to these people long enough and they'll eventually spitball a theory all black people are cheating the system by default, so that being black and cheating the system are basically the same thing. They are triggered specifically by the idea blacks, brown people, and other non-whites are cheating the system and getting things. You can test for this in a myriad of ways but the simplest is simply to take the same people and ask them about affirmative action and see how many get fuming about the exact same things in the exact same ways. Or talk about welfare for 'rural farmers' as opposed to recipients in 'inner cities.' Or any other number of ways right-wingers talk about this in the myriad of coded ways.

I do not mean to indict your relatives but simply recommend you guys get your hackles up and remember most of the people you're talking about aren't actually outraged by people cheating the system. They probably know in their guts that is rare or at least is solvable. They have calculated that fuming about welfare 'cheating' while it may make them look stupid is at least politically acceptable, touches on some shared norms about fairness and good governance. They are not going to tell you what they really think, what they are really opposed to, so you can't take this stuff at face value.

Who's we? Undeserving welfare recipients aren't actually the boogeyman they are to the right.

So pos then. Perfect.

Oh yeah, I'm positive that when they say undeserving people cheating the system they are envisioning the entirety of west Baltimore. They don't have like, specific concrete ideas of how individuals are cheating the system. They just know that lots of brown people are getting government assistance, and they're strapping young specimens who should probably be working instead.

He also said congress should get a $30k allowance per year because of travel costs

Edit: no you were right it was housing

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jason...211446686.html

show us that you are a reflected person or a person with some knowledge and maybe you will get a responce. iirc from a previous interation you are just a rude dummy.

You mean exactly how I've always shown myself to be?

lol responce.

I can't believe they are actually having a briefing today. This should be good.

she is a disgusting human being and I can't stand watching this she-beast talk

She sure sounds enthusiastic.

So looking to God for guidance didn't work so great for me, but maybe it will for my kids. Is that her point?

Lol evoking God

lolomfg at "one perfect role model", are you kidding me?

Skype sucks.