First off, the attitude of BU2B's father-in-law, apparently endorsed by AnneB, is despicable. It is selfish beyond words. To refuse to do anything for one's family simply out of love and generosity, without looking for personal gain, is greedy and self-serving and completely belies and negates any religious "higher ground" one might pretend to claim.
But at the risk of starting a firestorm, sir82's equating AnneB's response to a reflection of the Tea Party platform is totally incorrect. For the record, I am not a Tea Party member or proponent. I am more of an Independent who believes in equal opportunity, personal responsibility, and self-reliance. The Founding Fathers (of the United States) did not believe in, endorse, or set up a Government welfare system. They knew all too well that such would create a dependency. They much preferred that the truly needy rely on private, usually religious, charity and most contributed freely of their own funds towards such charities. A certain amount of stigma associated with receiving such charity tended to limit the recipients to those truly in need.
This is entirely different from today's welfare system where people can simply choose to live off the system rather than take advantage of the free public education system and learn how to work to provide for themselves. Entire generations are brought up to believe that the world "owes" them a living and they are free to have as many children as they want and expect others to feed, clothe, and house them. This pattern is self-perpetuating and ultimately unsustainable. The political party that most avidly supports this system facilitates and tacitly encourages this behavior because it continuously expands their power base. The same is true of ethnic leaders who seldom if ever decry the constantly increasing rates of illegitimacy and dependency in their groups. The more the merrier, since it increases their own influence and political power.
That said, an "every man for himself" attitude is unloving, selfish, and well, just wrong. People should care about others and share freely when able. To always look at others, especially family, as income opportunities reveals a truly bankrupt heart. I wouldn't want to be around people like that, family or not. Being caring and generous has less to do with being Christian, or whatever, than with simply being a good person. Anyone can be loving and generous without attributing it to belief in ancient fairytales and myths. In fact, those who profess belief in such superstitions and yet are actually selfish and greedy besmirch the "faith" or belief system they are so proud of. Hypocrites!