One job loss, one day where your car won't start, one time where a person contracts a serious disease, one injury at work, etc.

I remember I heard a man say once in a 12 step group, "In my family, if something bad happened to me,
my family thought it was my fault for letting it happen."

I think many right-wingers think that way.

as in follies of the Bushes, others. A post is here now about Claire Connor, daughter of JBS (John birch Society) founder Robt. Welch & her hardline mother who condemned her (and liberals) when she got away from that doctrine. In her book Claire brings up how her RW parents could care less about people who had problems, were poor. Real die hards, you must have brought it on yourselves thinking I guess.

…is the bedrock of conservatism. If you thrive in this world--then you are a good person. If you can't make it--then you are a loser who deserves to be ignored.

That is their mantra. That is foundational to all of their beliefs.

People who are doing well--are great people. Conversely, the people who are not faring well are inferior.

I can't even imagine walking around with this kind of sociopathic mentality. No feeling for anyone who is unlike you and no compassion for anyone who isn't clinking glasses at the country club. It's a sick way to live. And it's all based on money. If you have it--you are somebody. If you don't--then you aren't worthy.

Good times on planet Earth.

I was a Social Worker for many years and saw first hand the catastrophic circumstances people deal with everyday. I didn't see people looking for a hand out or being lazy, I saw folks that were dealt a very bad hand in life, yet they dealt with it, with courage, strength and a fighting spirit.

Works for my former company. About 150 days a year and brings down probably 150k.

How the conversation got to her going on about folks that need public assistance I do not know but at one point she proclaimed, "All I ask is that people do what I do. I got to where I am without needing help from anyone else. Everyone now just wants a free handout."

She knows I lean very far to the left and she quipped, "I suppose you think I am a RW hag now."

And I just said, "No but certainly a narcissist. You seem to be incapable of seeing the world under any other lens then the one that is your experience. Not everyone has had the advantages or situation that you enjoy. And for some reason you simply cannot or will not accept that. I don't know if you're a sociopath or not but certainly a narcissist."

Have a nice life. And I walked away.

Sad but I don't want to be around folks like that. To chat, argue and for any other reason. My brother is much the same. And we are quite distant. And that really makes me sad. My partner and I got married at the beginning of Jan. after 17 years together. Not a word from my brother, his wife or kids.

Never.

They had parents who provided a leg up, in many cases. They might have had scholarships or grants. They may have connections through family or friends that others do not have. They might have taken out loans from the government to start their business. Whatever it was, they "did not build that" all by themselves.

Americans like to think they pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, but it is simply untrue. And the ones who crow most loudly about that are usually the biggest takers out there.

Spot on.

the people who don't want to see will not see, no matter how carefully shown.

to protect their property & status in hard times which usually brings out the most selfish instincts unfortunately. A lot of it is to blame others & justify their own good fortune. There's so much influence from RW Media propaganda re the 'I made it myself, it's your problem that you didn't', & growth of ultraconservative fear & hatred esp. that people's taxes may go up to support the poor.
Too bad there's distance in your family over this, in mine there's some estrangement for other reasons, not political. Very sad how separate siblings & families can become. I'd give anything if my little brother was here, he was the best- bright, funny & so good for the family. But he passed years ago.

Socializing with them is just so unpleasant. So what's the point, really?

If you had success, and money--and a good life--Why wouldn't you parlay all of those riches into being a compassionate, kind person? Wouldn't you be humble? You can be proud of your successes, but wouldn't you also be sensitive to others and the world around you?

I really don't get people like this. They have so much, and their good fortune is used to slam doors to the world around them. I think people like this are very insecure and fearful. They know, deep down, that they did get lucky, or that they did get some breaks or have parents who had money. And they're insecure about their success. They fear losing it, so they are detested by those who don't have it. They fear being like those who don't have it.

I've been all over the map. Great times and hard times. One thing it has all taught me, is to appreciate what you have and to be grateful for everything you do have.

People like that hag (using her words!) in the grocery store are not grateful. They are closed down and rigid.

I feel sorry for her!

I can find some measure of compassion for an individual who, having lived a life of ignorant privilege- a hot house flower- may not have been exposed to the pressures, adversities and abuses inherent to the charity recipients. Such stunning ignorance would certainly have to evince a very naive soul; a product of what they've been exposed to and, consequently, socially hobbled.

To ask the question, why didn't they leave, other than as a rhetorical defense of abusive relationships, might be a desire for education, yielding an opportunity to bring them into the real world.

If, however, incurious about or indifferent to abusive situations, then I should think that they would qualify as pathological.

Thank you, Xchrom, for your frequent posts regarding socioeconomic issues and policies.

ANYONE.

A bad break, a job loss, some medical calamity (Obamacare did not end bankruptcies from medical bills), loss of a business. Whatever, it can happen. Most of us are not rich enough to absorb a lot of financial hardship. Now, some of us might have other resources. We may be able to rely on family to help for a little while, but it is possible for it all to slip away.

A divorce in particular is really hard for women who have not worked outside the home in a while, especially if they have kids.

Being poor is also expensive. Seems like a paradox, but it's true. Sales taxes are regressive, so they pay a larger share of their income in taxes when they buy stuff.

late fees, usurious payday loan fees, spurious credit card offers ("We'll give you a $750 credit line for a one-time charge of $69.99&quot and assorted other "poor taxes".

is rather overstating the case. Lots of people, as some other here have already pointed out, have lived lives where such bad things never happened, who don't quite get the privilege they may have. There's a very large space between ignorance and being a sociopath.

I took care of a woman who had her femur (that big olé bone in your thigh) broken by gunshot while walking back from her outhouse. This was in TN, 1978-79. She was in the hospital for several weeks and we got her cleaned up and enjoyed her company. It became clear during that time she did not know anyone she could trust or count on. She made quilts and knew someone was selling them while she was in the hospital. The staff bought her embroidery kits to work on and she did beautiful needlework.

She went home to that same house, fell and re-injured that leg and apparently did not come back for treatment and died a few months later. I cannot remember her exact age, but it was early 40s. Her cause of death was called chronic alcoholism.

Once she left us, she had no one who helped or cared or who she could trust. Home Health was turned away.

Some people just never encounter a break.