Core Value III

Continuing again in response to Ephraim’s question, “What is the basic principle behind your ‘liberalness’.”

In his comment, Ephraim tells of a niece and her partner who are using the welfare system to support an irresponsible lifestyle. Taking the story at face value, which assumes two able-bodied adults, I agree that their choices deserve censure.

What I’m not sure about is your purpose in telling the story, Ephraim. Is dismay or anger about welfare cheats a “basic principle” of your political beliefs? I have already agreed that their behavior offends me too, but I really don’t have a core value problem. Are your niece and her boyfriend any worse than a butcher with his thumb on the scale, a used car dealer who turns back the odometer, the financier cheating on his income taxes, the office worker surfing Craigslist at work? That is, aren’t they all just petty thieves working the system — and aren’t those kind of people always going to be with us?

I don’t like any of those behaviors, but addressing them is not by itself important enough to me to be a basic principle.