[kayodelycaon]

> Surely someone, somewhere feels like this

That would be my family when I was growing up. A lot of their beliefs are centered people should work for a living. If someone can't work, they are lazy and working people shouldn't have to pay to support them.

My parents have since moderated their stance on this but my dad still believes this is the way things should be. :(

I've moved away from home and very much do not share their view and don't associate with people like this. I still see this belief often enough to believe it's pretty dang common in the midwest among the lower middle class.

Edit:

I should note, everyone I've talked to do make exceptions for a few people they know.

Most of them are otherwise good, kind people. They abhor the idea of anyone else getting something they haven’t earned.

[sokoloff]

Is it that they abhor the idea of someone else getting something unearned, or that they are frustrated and fed up with the things that they have worked for and earned being denied to them (and only incidentally that they are given to someone else)?

[kayodelycaon]

Let me pull an example I’ve had to deal with.

I have a disability and some of the accommodations are a regular schedule (no weekends/overtime/on call) and being able to take time off unpaid when I’m sick. This is the bare minimum I need to be able to do knowledge work.

I don’t mention this because some people don’t think I deserve special treatment just because I “claim” to have a disability. If I can take time off for “vacations” whenever I want, they should be able to as well.

If I didn’t have these accommodations, I wouldn’t be able to work. Any explanation of how being bipolar severely impacts every aspect of my life is met with “life is hard for everyone”. (Exact quote from my parents, btw.)

To put it quite simply, no one should be given anything I wasn’t given.

When it comes to taxes, they see it as the government taking what they earned and giving it to people who haven’t earned it.

[stcroixx]

This is the default point of view where and when I grew up. Based on the parable 'If you give a man a fish he is hungry again in an hour. If you teach him to catch a fish you do him a good turn.'. The independence and freedom offered by the ability to meet one's own needs rather than be at the whims of others you depend on is seen as a much greater good.

[josephcsible]

> can't work

Are you sure you don't mean "can work but won't"?

[kayodelycaon]

Either or. People who can't work are just people who won't work.

For people who can't truly work, it's up to charities to support them. The government shouldn't be taking money from working people for it.