Both sides raise interesting points. A democrat would argue that social welfare programs better humanity by raising the standard of living among all people. A republican would argue that such programs only further the degradation of society by encouraging indolence. Whereas, competitiveness and self preservation (broadly defined as betterment of one-self, rather than a simple objective of survival) are hallmarks of human nature which must be emboldened at all costs. However, such differences are not always black and white and a balance is critical to the progress of humanity.