Should the unemployed be drug-tested?

Originally posted by Kunsoo
Yup.

http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/08/98_of_florida_welfare_applicants_pass_newly_implemented_drug_tests_discrediting_governor.html

The Republicans are apparently gluttons for punishment on the issue.

I just know that Ron Paul will make sure that none of my cash goes to lazy freeloaders who smoke the wacky-tabacky! He'll repeal the 14th amendment so that each state can pass laws coming down hard on these hippies (except for the hippies in CA, of course.) With the 14th repealed they won't be able to go running to the Federal government to get their 'rights' OR my cash! Ron and I can finally have freedom of association so we won't have to 'mix' with undesirables. Insurance companies won't have to cover any kind of smoker. Sure, he'll make it legal 'cause that's the libertarian thing to do, but it is also libertarian for companies to decide what they do with their own money and resources. Smoke all you want hippies! (As you sit under the underpass waiting for the tornado that took your house, car, wife, and kids away to pass!)

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
You are suggesting people be put under tremendous stress with no relief. There are consequences to such policies.

No relief? You are quite the enabler.

If you are doing illegal drugs you are breaking the law. It is quite likely that these people are using their money to buy the drugs. We are simply enabling them by giving them this money.

The government gives them money and you rationalize the inappropriate use of the money. I'm suprised we are in such good shape with this kind of thinking going on.

Originally posted by no1marauder
People who are eligible for unemployment are those who have held a job for a significant period of time but lost their job through no fault of their own. Even if they had used drugs, they were able to retain gainful employment. Borderline hate speech directed at them is misplaced; they are not "beggars" but those who are legally entitled to relief due to ...[text shortened]... r economic stabilizers moralistic blowhards like yourself might find themselves without a job.

People have recieved unemployment for much longer than they should. Extention after extention. This is crap.

If they choose to accept the money instead of going out there and getting a job (and there are a ton of jobs out there even if it is flipping burgers for minimum wage) then you are begging off the government.

Have some respect. Pull your own weight.

If you think that this point of view is bordering on hate, then once again you are part of the problem. You are an enabler. I expect more out of people. You enable them to expect less. You destroy their sense of self worth.

It is people like you who make some people want to do drugs to escape the reality that their self worth has been destroyed. It is a terrible circle created by people who believe in the Nanny state. It is a disease spread by liberal extremists.

Originally posted by Eladar
No relief? You are quite the enabler.

If you are doing illegal drugs you are breaking the law. It is quite likely that these people are using their money to buy the drugs. We are simply enabling them by giving them this money.

The government gives them money and you rationalize the inappropriate use of the money. I'm suprised we are in such good shape with this kind of thinking going on.

I am telling you that these policies you suggest, no matter how convinced you are of their theoretical moral purity, will lead to mass riots and other unpleasantness.

EDIT - For those of you who think in terms of numbers on paper, these riots will lead to A BILLION DOLLARS in damages per city! That's the number I heard of from the LA riot. Wow! That's a lot of dollars!

I wonder whose dollars they are? Not mine certainly.

You can write it at ten to the ninth power in scientific notation.

Or like this: $1,000,000,000

A thousand millions. Wow. It's hard to conceive that this many dollars physically exists. I wonder where they are? How much space do they take up?

How can riots destroy those pieces of paper? They destroy buildings and stuff. So confusing.

Then multiply by the number of cities rioting. It can't be that hard to coordinate such things in the information age.

Originally posted by Eladar
No relief? You are quite the enabler.

If you are doing illegal drugs you are breaking the law. It is quite likely that these people are using their money to buy the drugs. We are simply enabling them by giving them this money.

The government gives them money and you rationalize the inappropriate use of the money. I'm suprised we are in such good shape with this kind of thinking going on.

Drug addicts are going to find a way to buy drugs one way or the other.

Legalizing drugs will solve most of the problems, and funding treatment for drug addicts will help significantly as well. Cutting benefits for the poor, even those who do not "deserve" benefits, simply results in higher crime, higher unemployment and lower labour productivity.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
Drug addicts are going to find a way to buy drugs one way or the other.

Legalizing drugs will solve most of the problems, and funding treatment for drug addicts will help significantly as well. Cutting benefits for the poor, even those who do not "deserve" benefits, simply results in higher crime, higher unemployment and lower labour productivity.

I'm definitely in favor of legalizing drugs -- all of them. That would break the hold of the medical profession on prescriptions and would lead to a massive shake-up in the cost-of-healthcare logjam.

Originally posted by spruce112358
I'm definitely in favor of legalizing drugs -- all of them. That would break the hold of the medical profession on prescriptions and would lead to a massive shake-up in the cost-of-healthcare logjam.

I would be happy if Republicans would allow us to buy medications from Canada. But that would lead to massive drops in the cost of medication for consumers, and we can't have that.

Originally posted by spruce112358
I'm definitely in favor of legalizing drugs -- all of them. That would break the hold of the medical profession on prescriptions and would lead to a massive shake-up in the cost-of-healthcare logjam.

Ron Paul is going to take care of that problem. Drugs will be completely legalized and health care will be on a sound market basis. You'll have no problems getting insurance if you can afford it and have no preexisting conditions, and don't use any drugs, or smoke, or get born with a genetic challenge, or work for Ron Paul (in which case you can beg for help on the internet.)

Originally posted by Eladar
People have recieved unemployment for much longer than they should. Extention after extention. This is crap.

If they choose to accept the money instead of going out there and getting a job (and there are a ton of jobs out there even if it is flipping burgers for minimum wage) then you are begging off the government.

Have some respect. Pull your own w ...[text shortened]... created by people who believe in the Nanny state. It is a disease spread by liberal extremists.

Another imbecile who apparently believes that massive increases in unemployment occur because people get lazy all of sudden. There are 5 applicants for every job created in this country on average. Something like 25 million people are either out of work or working part-time though they desire full time jobs.

If you had any interest in encouraging "self worth" you'd support government policies to reduce unemployment not rant and rave about what scumbags the unemployed supposedly are.

Originally posted by spruce112358
I'm definitely in favor of legalizing drugs -- all of them. That would break the hold of the medical profession on prescriptions and would lead to a massive shake-up in the cost-of-healthcare logjam.

It would sure lead to a lot of dead people but most of your policy prescriptions are skewed to that result. Recreational drugs should be legalized,but removing all government regulation on medical drugs and treatments brings us back to the "paradise" of the late 1800s.

Originally posted by no1marauder
It would sure lead to a lot of dead people but most of your policy prescriptions are skewed to that result. Recreational drugs should be legalized,but removing all government regulation on medical drugs and treatments brings us back to the "paradise" of the late 1800s.

Ron Paul supports that position. Snake-oil can be profitable. If you're stupid enough to be killed by it who looses?