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whowasthatmaskedman I think (and I'm already prepared for your knee-jerk response) that American society is not really a 'society'; that instead the American people are individualistic people who think selfishly (Yes, your foreign policies are selfish too) and won't spend a penny to help someone who's in financial trouble unless there's a 'return' to be gained.
I know that you see immigrants coming in and taking jobs while others are lying about doing nothing to better their lives. However, those 'lay-abouts' have just given up on trying to fit into 'society' - why? Because they've been struck down at every attempt... And when someone puts their thumb on you everytime you try to rise up, even the pressure of a thumb on your back is defeating. Why do those immigrants come in and take those 'menial jobs' that nobody in your society wants? Because they are better than what they had in their home countries! They know what they need to do to survive - yet American folk, like you, begrudge them the scraps they are trying to gather together.
I know it's against the American Dream and the philosophy that everyone must make their own bed, but look at other countries where (Warning: American swear-word coming:) benevolent
socialism (notice the small 's'?) helps equates social status. Countries like Sweden, Canada, Iceland. I live in Canada and I earn my keep...but it doesn't hurt me one bit if I hand over an extra 5% of my income to social causes that help keep poorer kids in school and out of gangs or help an abandoned mother to put food on her kids' table after 14 hours of working 2 or 3 jobs at minimum wage - or even if she can't work at all!!