The question of a social safety net is one of those issues. I believe that one of the fundamental duties of a society is to act for the good of the society, without abridging the individual. Folks like Tom disagree with that premise. Ethical and Logical and Factual Consistency is possible in both cases, and it is difficult to tell who is right and who is wrong- just who argues their point better.

Actually, we are probably pretty close on this, except for the basic paradigms. See, I don't consider "society" to be a sentient entity, capable of acting for anyone's good or ill. Individuals do this, either alone or in cooperation with others. Your very sentence, describing a society acting for the good of a society, is basically circular. Obviously, in reality some individuals and groups in that society are acting for the good of other individuals and groups, and how this is done and whether force should be involved brings us to more complex tiers of the argument.

If one were to say, for example, that an individual should assist other individuals on a voluntary basis, I would totally agree. Even Ayn Rand recognized this, but did not consider it a primary virtue, and even thought it was evil if the help required the involuntary sacrifice of the first person.

Now a religious person, which Rand was not, but many conservatives are, would say that helping others was, in fact, not just a nice thing, but the duty of an individual, and in many religions, almost the most fundamental one. Ayn Rand once was challenged to describe her philosophy while standing on one foot. She did so:

1. Metaphysics: Objective Reality
2. Epistemology: Reason
3. Ethics: Self-interest
4. Politics: Capitalism
If you want this translated into simple language, it would read: 1. "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" or "Wishing won't make it so."
2. "You can't eat your cake and have it, too."
3. "Man is an end in himself."
4. "Give me liberty or give me death."

- Ayn Rand in a syndicated column

Jesus was once given a similar challenge of sorts, and he also rose to it:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself."

We can see where caring for others is very high in Christian theology, which is a foundation for many conservatives. The key is that this is an individual commitment. The commandment was not to "Lobby Rome and get Caesar to render unto the poor."