Is America The Greatest Nation On Earth?

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='CatholicMax' post='1507517' date='Apr 23 2008, 02:28 PM']Not my problem. if people decide to live above their means and put themselves in debt by buying things that they cant afford its not my problem. Its called personal responsibility. I have never lived above my means what i make is what i live on, I have no credit cards and don't buy what i cant pay for in cash. It took me 3 years to afford to buy an Ipod which i still have and take good care of. I have never lived from check to check and as an adult i have never made more than $20,000 (if that) a year.[/quote]

It is everyone's problem. For one, it's a social sin, so we are all culpable to various degrees. Second, we're all paying for it with inflation, as the government prints money to pay off mortgages that should've never been taken in the first place.

[quote name='CatholicMax' post='1507517' date='Apr 23 2008, 02:28 PM']Oh please i want to rip my hair out every time i hear "judge not". no one is presuming to be "so holy" what we are presuming is that people need to take personal responsibility. Managing money does not take a PhD or even a GED it takes common sense, dont spend beyond our means. I come from a broken home so please dont feed me that line either. If you really wanna help these people do away with public schools which are keeping these people dumb, If IF the government must pay for education lets have school vouchers.[/quote]

Then you're an exception, which is awesome. Still, I'm not making excuses, but just giving the reasons why these problems exist and why they cycle from one generation to the next. Too many people think that just because racism is no longer institutionalized that minorities should have no problem attaining equal status with whites within a single generation. The world isn't that easy and there are too many roadblocks that discourage all but the most determined, the least of which is the racism that remains in our society.

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='Mercy me' post='1507014' date='Apr 22 2008, 09:05 PM']The only reason I used the example about run down house and expensive cars is because my original example was just too unwieldy. I am sorry if it offended you. By the way, the idea that we are all living above our means is not true.[/quote]

"All" isn't meant to be taken in the strictly literal sense. Obviously, there are a rare few who manage their finances wisely, but it is a sin common and especially prevalent among us as Americans.

[quote name='Mercy me' post='1507014' date='Apr 22 2008, 09:05 PM']I noticed that you chose not to say anything about the meat of what I was trying to say. Where does personal responsibility factor into what you are saying?[/quote]

I agree with that. I just wanted to make sure you weren't generalizing one set of people without seeing how the same problem affects everyone. It just manifests itself differently.

[quote name='Mercy me' post='1507014' date='Apr 22 2008, 09:05 PM']The underprivileged are rightly given opportunities to advance themselves that are not open to others and yet many fail to take advantage of them. There are programs for people to help learn how to manage their own finances. There are scholarships to help help those who can't afford school. There are programs to help them take advantage of the programs available to them. The bottom line is that you can only help someone to the extent that someone is willing to help himself.[/quote]

I agree. Let's just agree not to judge people even in their failings. So many people (especially Christians) are quick to point the finger as if they somehow never need to beg forgiveness for their own sins and failings.

[dairygirl4u2c]

it don't seem those who say it's the best really have argued it's the best other than pointing out that it's good qualities.

if you look at what's important in voting.... human life, family, economics etc in the heirarchy... the united states smells of elderberries at abortion, euthanasia, stem cell stuff, gay stuff, etc by catholic standards. republicans like to say it's liberal in practice, so if that's the case, it's bad there too.
even if it was republican or good eocnomically... and even though it's in fact right, those dn't trump all the moral stuff.
also, the US is not a catholic nation which should be high on the list to a good catholic.
it does have freedom of religion, but a catholic nation would trump that, and freedom of religion isnm't that uncommon.