Of course you did, Bronte.

>>I paid taxes every day I worked<<

We all did.

The difference is that you seem to believe that the simple act of paying your taxes is sufficient justification for the government to make it their business to look after you.

This idea is only very recently come into vogue. For the vast majority of our civilization's history, governments took the view that your life was your own, and the decisions you made were your decisions, and therefore the consequences yours also.

For some reason - possibly the shock of two almost consecutive world wars - this idea of self-reliance was thrown out of the window in the latter half of the twentieth century, and we were fed the idea that we would be looked after, whether we liked it or not. And over time,it became the rule rather than the exception: health, employment, education, old age, all came under the heading of "it's not our problem, it is the government's".

And it has had the most unbelievable corrupting influence on the way we work, earn and spend, and on our attitudes towards family responsibilities (what are they, I hear you ask).

We sow. We reap.

We are now only a heartbeat away from having created our very own cargo cult. Hungry? The government should do something. Homeless? The government should do something. Sick? The government should do something. Obese? The government should do something.

Sorry. I don't buy it. We need to be less mollycoddled, not more.

Pericles

'health, employment, education, old age, all came under the heading of "it's not our problem, it is the government's".'

I'd say it's BOTH our problem AND the government's. And hopefully most mature, compassionate people agree.

Not so the hyper-darwinists like yourself, who would like nothing better than a return to the good ol' days of Merrie England, with cesspit slums, workhouses, debtors' prisons, people having to steal to stay alive, 12-year old prostitutes, lifespans of 40 years (before exhaustion and preventable diseases catch up with you), infants lucky to be alive at 12 months ... while the genteel 'worthy' folk on their private incomes while away their time at the club playing whist.

Of course, you're one of the worthy ones, so you'll be completely happy in that world.

Well I hope you will all be contributing to Men's Health Week.

Even if you know that men are ultra-privileged and get the best of everything

I can agree with that, Killarney.

>>I'd say it's BOTH our problem AND the government's. And hopefully most mature, compassionate people agree.<<

My concern is that tendency is to consider them increasingly as only the government's problem, in that they should be forever "doing something about it". To my mind, this is an insidiously corrupting influence on society. Not least because it will encourage successive governments to increase their control over the citizenry, simply because that seems to be what they vote for.

In terms of absolutes, I'll bet you that the first category that we will lose complete control over will be free speech.