Strong men, or strong government?

First off, I think this applies equally, and separately, and differently, to women, and thus it deserves to mention them separately. "Strong men and women" or perhaps "a strong population". I notice some of the callers thought so too.

That said, this deserves a long discussion. There are people in this country who don't have the remotest clue what conservatives are talking about when they say that relying on the government makes you weak, needy, dependent. That waiting for a handout from the government as your salvation is very bad for you. And that when government tries to take care of you in the many ways it does, it invariably does a very bad job, even worse than you would do for yourself regardless of how bad you were at such planning.