RBESRQ and Waffler are the Socialist sirens who would sing any weary captain and his sailors to their graves. Have they ever read anything of substance? Mises' writings on the Socialist calculation fallacy? Hayek on the "pretense of knowledge"? Locke? Blackstone? Destutt de Tracy? Spooner? Bastiat? Say? Rothbard? I'll bet they've read Marx, and lots of it! Compassion? If compassion is stealing the property of the unwilling to give to the undeserved, then call me the most un-compassionate monster alive! I have a suggestion for the comrades: grow up, realize that there is such a thing as individual responsibility, and educate yourselves on the topics of which you speak prior to demeaning the espousers of those views. Hundreds, if not thousands of years of human history provide us with the knowledge that governments, or rather tyrannies, can not long provide for their citizenry before corruption and all the other demons of collectivism destroy the civilization. If you feel so strongly about providing for the "under-privileged", create a charitable organization with your OWN FUNDS and provide for your innocent victims.