Accepting money from the STATE :O

[RFan]

Do you think it is wrong to accept money from the state. I am in high school and I am taking a free college course. My transportation is paid for by the ministry and I think the course too. I feel like taking this is not that bad because the government has done so much to hurt me from school. If they are offering me something that I think will help me I don't think it is wrong to take it. but I would love to hear some thoughts about this

[ribuck]

You can accept the money you're offered without guilt, provided you acknowledge the wrong that was done when the state took that money from others.

[Rick Horton]

 

You can accept the money you're offered without guilt, provided you acknowledge the wrong that was done when the state took that money from others.

 

I disagree on principal. You become a thief.

[TheRobin]

 

 

You can accept the money you're offered without guilt, provided you acknowledge the wrong that was done when the state took that money from others.

 

I disagree on principal. You become a thief.

 

By that principle a one-month-old is also a thief, if one of his parents works for the government.

[Rick Horton]

That's ridiculous since a one month old doesn't have any responsibility, nor the ability to understand these concepts. Terrible example, sorry, lol

[TheRobin]

 

Do you think it is wrong to accept money from the state. I am in high school and I am taking a free college course. My transportation is paid for by the ministry and I think the course too. I feel like taking this is not that bad because the government has done so much to hurt me from school. If they are offering me something that I think will help me I don't think it is wrong to take it. but I would love to hear some thoughts about this

 

Nah, I don't think feeling bad is appropriate. First of all, the money has been stolen already, regardless of whether you take it now or not (and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't lower taxes to reflect an absence of handouts anyway).
Another thing is, that I'd guess to only reason you need the money is because governments has tampered so much with education and transportation, that it has become unaffordable (or less affordable), thus government first created the necessity of needing more money to begin with.
And last but not least. if you've been to public schooling then this is a rather cheap restitution for the damage already done to you through that schooling. And every person who supported you being thrown in school and having your mind destroyed at that young age, while probably being tossed into the same rooms with bullies and all sorts of disfunctional people, while of course lacking any empathetic teachers (usually the case), who don't really care too much about the emotional/psychological well-being, is now paying for that, so, in a very weird and twisted way, I'd say you've probably more than earned it for the damage done to you in the name of those people.

There are some anarchist who were also forced to pay of course, but I think the amount you would directly "own them back" would be too minute to even bother and I'm pretty sure, that they'd at least be happy to know that at least some of their stolen income goes out to actually helping someone who's struggling to survive "the system".
But even if there are some that would rather you not have the money, the amount would be so small that even bothering to think about it for 5 second (let alone demand it back) would already create more losses even if the amount somehow got back into their hands, so from a practical standpoint, even they couldn't logically claim to want to take the actions necessary to demand it back imo.

Hope that helps

[Rick Horton]

 

 

Do you think it is wrong to accept money from the state. I am in high school and I am taking a free college course. My transportation is paid for by the ministry and I think the course too. I feel like taking this is not that bad because the government has done so much to hurt me from school. If they are offering me something that I think will help me I don't think it is wrong to take it. but I would love to hear some thoughts about this

 

Nah, I don't think feeling bad is appropriate. First of all, the money has been stolen already, regardless of whether you take it now or not (and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't lower taxes to reflect an absence of handouts anyway).
Another thing is, that I'd guess to only reason you need the money is because governments has tampered so much with education and transportation, that it has become unaffordable (or less affordable), thus government first created the necessity of needing more money to begin with.
And last but not least. if you've been to public schooling then this is a rather cheap restitution for the damage already done to you through that schooling. And every person who supported you being thrown in school and having your mind destroyed at that young age, while probably being tossed into the same rooms with bullies and all sorts of disfunctional people, while of course lacking any empathetic teachers (usually the case), who don't really care too much about the emotional/psychological well-being, is now paying for that, so, in a very weird and twisted way, I'd say you've probably more than earned it for the damage done to you in the name of those people.

There are some anarchist who were also forced to pay of course, but I think the amount you would directly "own them back" would be too minute to even bother and I'm pretty sure, that they'd at least be happy to know that at least some of their stolen income goes out to actually helping someone who's struggling to survive "the system".
But even if there are some that would rather you not have the money, the amount would be so small that even bothering to think about it for 5 second (let alone demand it back) would already create more losses even if the amount somehow got back into their hands, so from a practical standpoint, even they couldn't logically claim to want to take the actions necessary to demand it back imo.

Hope that helps

 

It's not good if you don't lead by example. Let's just say that's my philosophy on this.

[ribuck]

It's not good if you don't lead by example. Let's just say that's my philosophy on this.

 

So ... how do you (personally) do this in practice?

Did you ever catch a bus or train? In most places, public transport receives money that was taken from taxpayers. Did you ever receive interest on your bank account? Even if your bank didn't receive a direct bailout, it certainly benefited financially from "fiscal interventions". Did you ever use a road that was maintained using money taken from taxpayers?

Like you, I choose to lead by example, and here's how I do it. I keep a very rough tally on what I've received from the government and what I've had taken by the government. Because I've never accepted any handout, I'm way on the losing side of that transaction.

But even so, I have received indirect benefits that required money being taken from people by the state. So I pledge that I will return to any person, upon request, that portion of my benefit that was taken from them. It's largely a symbolic gesture, because I've benefited by less than a penny per taxpayer, but even symbolic gestures can be important.

Regarding the original poster, I would never call someone immoral for accepting something that was given to them. If that thing was taken immorally, then the immorality is with the person who did the taking, not with the honest person who received it. Of course, as an honest person, they would acknowledge the wrong that was done.

[RFan]

 

 

Do you think it is wrong to accept money from the state. I am in high school and I am taking a free college course. My transportation is paid for by the ministry and I think the course too. I feel like taking this is not that bad because the government has done so much to hurt me from school. If they are offering me something that I think will help me I don't think it is wrong to take it. but I would love to hear some thoughts about this

 

Nah, I don't think feeling bad is appropriate. First of all, the money has been stolen already, regardless of whether you take it now or not (and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't lower taxes to reflect an absence of handouts anyway).
Another thing is, that I'd guess to only reason you need the money is because governments has tampered so much with education and transportation, that it has become unaffordable (or less affordable), thus government first created the necessity of needing more money to begin with.
And last but not least. if you've been to public schooling then this is a rather cheap restitution for the damage already done to you through that schooling. And every person who supported you being thrown in school and having your mind destroyed at that young age, while probably being tossed into the same rooms with bullies and all sorts of disfunctional people, while of course lacking any empathetic teachers (usually the case), who don't really care too much about the emotional/psychological well-being, is now paying for that, so, in a very weird and twisted way, I'd say you've probably more than earned it for the damage done to you in the name of those people.

There are some anarchist who were also forced to pay of course, but I think the amount you would directly "own them back" would be too minute to even bother and I'm pretty sure, that they'd at least be happy to know that at least some of their stolen income goes out to actually helping someone who's struggling to survive "the system".
But even if there are some that would rather you not have the money, the amount would be so small that even bothering to think about it for 5 second (let alone demand it back) would already create more losses even if the amount somehow got back into their hands, so from a practical standpoint, even they couldn't logically claim to want to take the actions necessary to demand it back imo.

Hope that helps

 

 

Thanks you make some really great points! I think you right but also one of things is that school is mostly responsible for the hard time I am having figuring out what I want to be. If they offer me something to help repair some of the damage I will take it. I think you can somewhat compare it to someone being kidnapped and accepting food that the kidnapper offers.