Conservatives and poverty
It seems to me that almost all conservatives, excepting those who truly (and insanely) believe faith-based organizations can take over all the functions of the welfare state, must have a really twisted concept of pain. Probably in most cases not as twisted as that of Ayn Rand, whose main character in The Fountainhead claims that "there's more suffering in [an artist] when he can't do the work he wants to, than in a whole field of victims run over by a tank," but twisted nevertheless.
In my opinion, strongly advocating unbridled economic competition, which produces millions of losers for every big winner, and then condemning those losers to a life of misery just because they're all "lazy," is completely heartless and requires that the conservative convince him/herself, at some level, that the poor's pain doesn't matter. Now, I don't deny that rich people have problems in their lives, but they're never forced to go without food and shelter for any length of time.
In my opinion, strongly advocating unbridled economic competition, which produces millions of losers for every big winner, and then condemning those losers to a life of misery just because they're all "lazy," is completely heartless and requires that the conservative convince him/herself, at some level, that the poor's pain doesn't matter. Now, I don't deny that rich people have problems in their lives, but they're never forced to go without food and shelter for any length of time.