It seems there are two kinds of people—those who regard America as something like a family and those who regard it as a collection of individuals unrelated to each other and even in competition with each other.

Of course, a single person might be a mixture of both—sometimes leaning one way and sometimes leaning the other way.  But many people seem locked into one mindset or the other and whichever it is determines their attitudes toward the disadvantaged and less fortunate among us.

People who look at everyone around them, anywhere they go in America, as a family member tend to have compassion on the socially disadvantaged and wish a better life for them.  They think it’s right for our American family to help them get up on their feet; “pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps” isn’t a family way of thinking about the less fortunate.

“Family-oriented” people tend to think most of the poor are deserving of special help, even through spreading the family’s wealth around.  These people look to the common good of the whole family and seek ways to move toward true equality of all.

Then there are people who look at everyone around them, anywhere they go in America, as individuals not related to themselves (except, of course, their own blood or maybe shirttail relatives).  They view America as a whole not as a family but as an aggregate of individuals competing with each other.  Of course, many of these people believe viewing America that way benefits all as everyone, hopefully, strives to better themselves.

The problem is that people in this second category tend to be blind to oppression–social causes of disadvantage and poverty.  To them, all or most of the poor choose poverty and are therefore undeserving of anything.

This is excellent.