At some point everything.. anything that alters the status quo can be considered 'a taking'. The way you're framing it, is any form of taxation is a taking. I

At some point everything.. anything that alters the status quo can be considered 'a taking'. The way you're framing it, is any form of taxation is a taking. I have no particular issue with welfare, because fewer poor people benefit all of us, even if you do not happen to see the benefit of it - you still receive the benefits from fewer people living in poverty. I have a favorite quote from LBJ - "We dont ask much, the average American does not demand much, but we have a right to expect in this rich country, if we're willing to work from daylight to dark, we have a right to expect a job, to provide food for our family, a roof over their head, clothes for their bodies, an opportunity to have our children educated, and the right to worship god according to the dictates of our own conscience. Poverty not only strikes at the needs of the body it also taxes the spirit and undermines human dignity. It is not enough for the congress to pass laws, we will not will our war against poverty until the conscience of the entire nation is aroused. We will not succeed until every citizen regards the suffering of neighbors as a call to action, we will not overcome until every child in every city and every town joins its parents to help us mobilize its resources. Not in a day, and not in a year will these goals be reached, but if we begin the effort, if we approach the task with great enthusiasm and not with cynicism these achievements will be the glory, the glory of your generation. So I have come here today to ask for your heart and your hand to ask you to join us in a similar cause. Help us to build a better land, help us to built a greater society, help us open wide the doors of opportunity and we invite all to come in and when have done this it will one day be said of America that she was a burning and shining light in mans journey on earth." The issue is, we've made the system too unfair - it's too hard to succeed, once you're below a certain point you dont have bootstraps to pull upon. The costs from poverty cost all of us something, and make for dangerous men. Voting to tax yourself to provide for them is a cheap form of insurance.