[redpoint5]

Yeah, medicine has a long way to go, that's for sure. The brain is among the least well known areas of biology.

That said, people can do well enough when they aren't on drugs to raise a family. My cousin was doing well when he wasn't on drugs and had a job at a restaurant. He had at least 2 solid years of doing well. As his health deteriorated due to complications from diabetes and a lifetime of abusing his body, his mental state also deteriorated. He died last week at the age of 43. He's the type that the more money he had, the more he'd abuse his body and neglect all responsibility. The 2 worst things to happen to him was getting a $65k insurance settlement, and getting $100k inheritance. Money was gone within a couple months in both cases.

Agreed about culture promoting some gross ideas. Single parents are seen as heros instead of one of the most difficult things a person could do, and among the most difficult obstacles a child can face to having a healthy and productive life. That's not to say that single parents are necessarily to blame, or that there aren't great single parents, but culture should not accept this as a normal and healthy thing to do.

You're absolutely right that nobody in the US is hungry unless they put themselves in that position. Heck, we allow restaurant pizza to be eligible for food assistance programs! I never got pizza before when I was only making $40k/yr because it was an expense I shouldn't have.

We shouldn't give food vouchers, but instead actual food items from an approved list of staple foods. Pizza is for people who can afford to buy it, not a necessity.