Shameless plug for a good cause

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by sleepyjeff

Not just a collection of individuals.

Mathematically, yes. Emotionally, no, which is only because I came from a reasonably positive family background and was exposed to reasonably positive examples of family behavior among my friends and relations. I also learned somewhere not to have six wives, treat women like property, demand cult-like obedience and murder my daughter because she was not my son, all of which goes on in families here and abroad. Plenty of families treat their kids like boarders, especially once they turn 18.

Community is also a positive value that conservatives like to pretend they have a monopoly on (unless they're running down the gay community). But people don't automatically make a functioning community either, as any time through the littered streets of a poor neighborhood will tell you. However, communities often rally around their less fortunate members. Whether they do it by reaching in to their own pockets, through an organized church effort or through an organized government effort doesn't seem to be a meaningful difference to me. Responsibility doesn't end at your front door.