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Rights: Civil? Equal? Human?
Aug. 13th, 2005 12:41 pmOkay, I have a question for the three people that read this journal. Take as much time as you need to think about it. I'm really quite interested in seeing what people's views on the topic will be. My question is this:
What are the basic rights a country owes its citizens?
I'm talking about the core, the most fundamental rights a country should provide. The reason I'm asking this question is that I was watching a program about a government-sponsored program that provides assistants for families. These assistants are there to help parents with disabilities look after their kids.
Now I'm assuming there is a criteria to be met before they'll accept your request though the program did not go into that and also it seems that the government assigns the assistants as it sees fit not as the parents would like because one family talked about how they had to purchase extra hours above what the government provided.
What sparked my question were two things that the families said in the program. One was that the government has a responsibility to parents to provide for them and the other was that every woman should have the right to have kids and if she's disabled and can't look after her kids adequately then the government should provide assistance no matter the cost.
My immediate reaction was WTF!??!? So, I'm going to share my thoughts with you and I'd like to hear where you're coming from on this.
My feeling is that parents should be responsible for themselves and their children. I'm not sure where this dependency on the government started but I think it's appalling that at every turn people are expecting handouts for everything. Now I'm not so callous that I don't have some compassion. I feel that if you have kids already and THEN become disabled, then yes, you should be provided with help so that your kids don't have to be taken away from you.
But as harsh as it sounds, I feel that if you're already disabled, you need to accept the fact that kids are an option not available to you. I mean if you can't take care of them because of whatever is wrong with you, should the rest of us have to pay for it? I feel like that's wrong. Are kids a right? Or a privilege?
In another related issue, some years ago the minister for housing got on TV and loudly announced that housing was not a right. He said that people shouldn't expect to be guaranteed a place to live. I thought this was particularly stupid. In my opinion a country needs to provide food, shelter and work. I feel that without those three things a country is doomed. How can a country be strong if its people are starving, homeless and unemployed?
Of course those three categories are quite broad. Included in food would be all the things that go with keeping people healthy, like medications etc. Education would be a subcategory of work since you need that to get a job. And so on. Anything above that though becomes a luxury. Anyway, those are my thoughts.
What are yours?
What are the basic rights a country owes its citizens?
I'm talking about the core, the most fundamental rights a country should provide. The reason I'm asking this question is that I was watching a program about a government-sponsored program that provides assistants for families. These assistants are there to help parents with disabilities look after their kids.
Now I'm assuming there is a criteria to be met before they'll accept your request though the program did not go into that and also it seems that the government assigns the assistants as it sees fit not as the parents would like because one family talked about how they had to purchase extra hours above what the government provided.
What sparked my question were two things that the families said in the program. One was that the government has a responsibility to parents to provide for them and the other was that every woman should have the right to have kids and if she's disabled and can't look after her kids adequately then the government should provide assistance no matter the cost.
My immediate reaction was WTF!??!? So, I'm going to share my thoughts with you and I'd like to hear where you're coming from on this.
My feeling is that parents should be responsible for themselves and their children. I'm not sure where this dependency on the government started but I think it's appalling that at every turn people are expecting handouts for everything. Now I'm not so callous that I don't have some compassion. I feel that if you have kids already and THEN become disabled, then yes, you should be provided with help so that your kids don't have to be taken away from you.
But as harsh as it sounds, I feel that if you're already disabled, you need to accept the fact that kids are an option not available to you. I mean if you can't take care of them because of whatever is wrong with you, should the rest of us have to pay for it? I feel like that's wrong. Are kids a right? Or a privilege?
In another related issue, some years ago the minister for housing got on TV and loudly announced that housing was not a right. He said that people shouldn't expect to be guaranteed a place to live. I thought this was particularly stupid. In my opinion a country needs to provide food, shelter and work. I feel that without those three things a country is doomed. How can a country be strong if its people are starving, homeless and unemployed?
Of course those three categories are quite broad. Included in food would be all the things that go with keeping people healthy, like medications etc. Education would be a subcategory of work since you need that to get a job. And so on. Anything above that though becomes a luxury. Anyway, those are my thoughts.
What are yours?
