How do a person's political views relate to self sufficiency?

[Big Daddy]

I hear those cow farts are pretty noxious. Time will tell who is right on the global warming issue. They do need to slow down on the pollution, regardless.

 

[bibliophile birds]

First thing I learned in college statistics was they are notoriously easy to manipulate to fit any agenda.

yes they are. a project i worked on a few years ago was tackling mother-to-child transfer of HIV/AIDS in Haiti. the program had a 72% success rate at stopping the transfer when the mothers were given the correct anti-retrovirals (you can't imagine how often expired or ineffective AIDS medications are "donated" by pharmaceutical companies) AND supplied with clean water and nutritious food. that's a big win for us. but those who opposed our program decided to focus on the fact that the number of children living in poverty in the areas we were working in had risen by 54%. we eventually lost a lot of donations because of this. the fact that those people couldn't seem to grasp was that the number of children living in poverty went up because there were more children living, period. saving those lives wasn't enough apparently.

Second, many contribute to charities anonymously.

or donate their time instead of their money. lots of people who can't really afford to make monetary donations go volunteer with Habitat for Humanity or soup kitchens or any number of other organizations that need workers as well as dollars. there are very few conservatives lining up to volunteer with the organizations i work with. that could be more about the type of organizations i work with, but it's something to think about still.

 

[me&thegals]

...or donate their time instead of their money....

That is a most excellent point! Time is valuable but probably not counted in studies about donations.

I really couldn't say either way about "who" is volunteering in my community.

In my family, my cousins have done a lot overseas. They are liberal politically. I have another cousin in Iraq. Because she believes in what she is doing, she probably sees this as giving to her country. My wealthy, conservative aunt volunteers at a free clinic. Her conservative husband whines and moans about social programs. I could detail the rest that I know about, but a lot of people really believe in "not letting your right hand know what the left hand is doing" in regards to charity and probably just aren't chatting with me about it.

It would be quite interesting to study the trends of *who* is out their volunteering their time. After all, who is going to give actual TIME to something they don't believe in? I'd like to see not only politics but gender, age, religious beliefs, educational level, income included in the study.

 

[bibliophile birds]

It would be quite interesting to study the trends of *who* is out their volunteering their time. After all, who is going to give actual TIME to something they don't believe in? I'd like to see not only politics but gender, age, religious beliefs, educational level, income included in the study.

i'm sure there is data out there somewhere about just that. Sociologists, Economists, and Anthropologists are surely doing studies on volunteering. the hard part is finding it. for some ridiculous reason, scholarly articles are made near impossible to access unless you are in the field or shell out some $$. i'll see what i can find.

 

[big brown horse]

http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3071

 

[me&thegals]

That was a really neat thread, BBH. It wouldn't be completely accurate, though, even for this forum. Not everyone who volunteers is going to self report... Great ideas on it, though!

 

[newmochick]

Sorry I can't stand on the sidelines any longer.

What does Cleveland, Detroit and New Orleans (just to name a few) have in common? High rate of poverty, high crime rate, poor educational levels, etc. Who has governed those cities for a long time - progressive democrats. They have promised the world to their constituents and have never delivered. In return the city governments have gotten more powerful as the citizens became more dependent. I about died when I heard a New Orleans native state during hurricane Katrina that she wasn't worried, the government was going to take care of her! That is about as far from being self-sufficient as you can get.

Progressives are in both parties, so democats can't take full credit of the move towards citizens becoming dependent on the government.

 

[dacjohns]

Love you so much, Dacjohns! Where have you been for so long? See what happens when you aren't around to keep things in order?

I come and go, skim threads, once in a while say something.

I've been working and now that it's the off season I have time to stir things up. But it looks like I'm not needed to do that anymore.

 

[dacjohns]

Seriously, though...being an engineer, I really can't comprehend why anyone would not want to know the numbers about something. Or, not consider them reliable and necessary.

Do you really make your decisions based strictly on how you feel about it?

Numbers are required for science....and without science you wouldn't be about to type anything on that 'puter of yours.....

ISTP here.

 

[dacjohns]

Feeellliiingggggssss.....woh woh woh feeellliiinnngggsssss


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