I was born and raised in California and grew up in a family of Democrats.  I've always swung toward the liberal side, and I'm a strong believer in the government working for the people.  We pay taxes, then elect people to represent us and put into place laws that will hopefully protect us in good times and bad, laws that will keep us relatively safe in an unsafe world. 

     I've noticed a lot of conservatives seem to feel that if you believe in any sort of government supported program you are inferior in their eyes, looking for a handout.  They label Democrats across the board as being of one mind, that we should hand our free programs to anyone and everyone who comes along.  My own family raised me to never take handout from the government, being the proud liberals that we are.  Government  hand-outs, in the eyes of my family, were created for people who really, really needed them.  Taking money or anything else from the government was frowned upon and considered a little shameful, something one wouldn't talk about.

     Conservatives would like to make everyone believe that giving tax breaks to the wealthy elite and big corporations, while cutting programs for the poor and disadvantaged is the way to go.  Obviously, that isn't working and hasn't been for sometime now. 

     I just know that there are times in life when things can get very hard.  Not everyone has family to fall back on, to support them through the hard times.  There may come a time when you find yourself with no one to fall back on.  We are all different, one person may not be as strong as another person when it comes to helping themselves out of a difficult situation.  Not everyone is born with into a close-knit family that supports one another.  Not everyone wants to ask for help, even when they probably should.  Why else would anyone choose to be homeless, or to put aside their pride filling out endless paperwork and waiting hours to get a little help through a time they were unable to prepare for in advance.

     I once worked with a young single mother with an 8 year old daughter at home.  She had no family here and was on a waiting list to get child-care assistance (something I hear is a thing of the past now).  Consequently, not having the money to pay a child-care or family to support her, and needing to work to pay the rent and bills she would have her young daughter come home from school and go into her bedroom where she had a T.V. and some videos.  Everyday this little girl came home to an empty apartment, went into her Moms bedroom and locked the door and watched videos (they couldn't afford cable), until her Mom got off work and came home at night.  Now you tell me, would you call her a bad Mother?  Most likely you would, but what alternative would you give her?  Stay home and get government assistance for a cheaper apartment, collect welfare and buy groceries with food stamps?  Well then you'd call her a leech, criticize her for taking government hand-outs.  She was in a lose-lose situation, something I feel the loudest critics of government funded programs know nothing about and have never experienced themselves.

We all go through hard times, we are not all the same and don't always handle them the same.  Certainly government programs need to be closely monitored so that the people who would take advantage of them without really needing to are weeded out, but they are there for a reason and all of us should try to have a little empathy for our fellow citizens.