Originally Posted by Relentless

And when there are bright, hard working, energetic, law abiding citizens of this country who become displaced by shifts in the economy, or personal tragedies from poor health, or a simple lack of aptitude... What should we do with them? We used to kill them with war or let them die from plagues. Those options are pretty much done. We will have a large and growing segment of the population comprised of 'extra people' who society does not need. Old people, disabled people, dim people, unlucky people.... And they aren't going to go away. In fact they will eventually be the majority. Automation, technology and cost will always combine to discard more people. Any dip in the overall economy and even more people get discarded.

The simple cost of caring for parents who now live twenty or thirty years beyond what they used to Is crushing for many hard working citizens. As populations grow older and ninety becomes a normal lifespan, most people are having one or two offspring at most and tech continues to reduces the number of people needed. We will have a massive population of extra people. Taking care of the less fortunate and providing a safe, sanitary somewhat comfortable life for them is the responsibility of our society. That means basic healthcare, food, education...not ferraris.

It is a strategic error to talk in terms of screwing the lazy good for nothing 47%... We ought to be talking about finding some way to put the extra people to use and actualising their full potential without denigrating the fact that their potential is less than someone else. Getting the most out of our extra people will go a long way toward fixing this country, and being respectful of them rather than disdainful will come in handy when they become the well armed majority that they almost are already.