Reply #6: his presumption is that all or almost all poverty is caused by individual irresponsibility

[Douglas Carpenter]

well some of it is. But most poverty is caused by circumstances beyond an individual's control. He seems incapable of conceiving of misfortune. Which means that when he looks at a poor person - all he is psychologically capable of seeing are people of inferior character. Thus we are back to the Calvinist notion that success is a sign of noble character and failure is a sign of poor character. It is chilling to imagine someone looking at the world that way. It answers the age old question of , "how can someone be so heartless? How can someone be so cruel?" If misfortune is entirely one's own fault - then sympathy and empathy are nothing more than naive excuse making for the lazy and irresponsible.