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Mary E. Martin's avatar

History endlessly repeats itself in every cruel way possible. In "A Christmas Carol", re: Scrooge's comment: "If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population”, Charles Dickens was using The Poor Law, a reference to the popular economic theories of Thomas Malthus. Malthus argued that ruinous poverty and starvation were necessary ills, as society could not possibly provide for everyone and death would remove the undesirables from the population. He supported the Poor Law to create workhouses for the poor, as people who were unable to sustain themselves did not have the right to live.

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