FatherMcGruder, your arguments make no sense.
I'd give him a little more credit than that. If the answers to these questions were as obvious as many people seem to think, there would be a lot more unanimity on these issues.
True. However, regardless of how hard these questions are to answer, a person can still have trouble understanding another. To such a person, the one speaking would make little or no sense, regardless of whether they have a valid point or not.
Um... actually, poverty is a choice.
Categorical assertions like this seem pretty ridiculous given the extensive data available to us. For example, in my comparatively wealthy country children are disproportionately poor compared to the general population, and minority children even more so. If everyone "chose" to be poor such segments would be affected with equal probability, or possibly even less considering the fact that most societies invest heavily in their children. Clearly other factors are at play.
Well yes. I didn't mean that people are necessarily poor because they choose to be. I meant that one can choose to be poor. It's an option.