I start my mornings with the digital version of The Columbus Dispatch most every morning. It is generally an interesting and mostly pleasant read. Today is different. Maybe I got up on the wrong side of the bed or maybe it’s the grinding frustration of watching our culture drift.
Bernard, a resident, frustrated over Republican obstructionism, wrote an editorial in the Friday July 19th issue about taking health care from the poor, saying the party has no empathy for the poor. Next I read an editorial from Sharon Davies of the Kirwan Institute at The Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, about how food stamps help lift people out of poverty. Her editorial starts, “It is almost impossible to fathom what constituents were being represented when the House voted to unhitch the nation’s food stamp program from the farm bill that has long ensured the passage of both pieces of legislation". Considering her hard working parents and the types of safety nets from which she and her family benefited as she grew up, it is hard to understand how her thinking has evolved to author such a position.
She and her siblings developed hard working ethics through her parent. The safety nets she observed as a child were largely from nonprofit organizations and good hearted people. Since, such citizen support for one another has mostly been transplanted by bloated, unsustainable, inefficient, and corrupt big government programs of forced wealth transfer. These programs do not resemble those she described in her premised observations growing up. Today’s big government programs are creating a culture of dependence, not the ethical culture of hard work and achievement.
Many good and tender hearts want better for everyone. I want better for everyone. Most everyone wants better for everyone. The difference between us is the path to take to reach that goal.
Every equation has to be balanced or it’s not an equation. Each side of the "=" sign has to be equal. If one side is empathy, the other side has to be funding. I saw no discussion in your editorial relative to practicality, funding, or any argument for volunteerism or charitable giving from which you and your family greatly benefited. You argued only one side of the equation and even that was completely loaded toward only big government programs.
Sharon, maybe the votes to separate food stamps from the farm bill are because combined state and federal food stamp spending in 2000 was about $20 billion and this year is projected to be over $90 billion. Maybe it’s because welfare spending is exploding far beyond what can be sustained. Maybe it is a bad idea to be like Greece, or Spain, or Italy, or Venezuela, or Cuba, or….. Maybe it is bad to think 7.5% unemployment is normal. Maybe it’s because at the same time our country’s debt will soon exceed $17 trillion….. I am saying just maybe!
As a young man my path began its development when I received assigned reading of William Bradford’s writings in a college history class. It was like a light came on for me. The pilgrims landed in 1620. They formed a system of communal land ownership. Together they were to work the land. As it turned out, many starved simply due to human nature. Many choose to let others work the fields but still reap the bounty. Unfortunately no bounty resulted. Within three years the Pilgrims scraped the communal system by instituting a system of private property with each family owning a plot to do with as they chose. Soon the bounty was so great the surplus provided goods for trade with the Indians.
William Bradford documented a tragic example of human nature, not necessarily the nature of every human, but of societal human nature. Many Pilgrims worked the fields hard that first year. But many also chose to let others do the work. Many like you embellish "Community". As a child you saw the good aspects. But, as for the Pilgrims, Community was crippling, and I argue big government welfare contributes a great crippling affect upon society.
Recently I tripped over another glaring example of the same human nature and the negative impact of “Community” in today’s world. Near my home in rural central Ohio is a mid-size company with a large product assembly floor. Business was growing and they were interviewing heavily to fill many open positions. Unfortunately 66% of applicant failed the drug screening test. How is this possible when the applicants know in advance they will face a drug screening test? Have you guessed yet? Regretfully, it goes back to human nature, why work when you do not have to. They failed the test intentionally so they could keep receiving government checks – Not Government's Money, Your Money & My Money!!!!! They take your money and my money. They are a drag on our community and on our country. This is just a small example of large government socialism filling the role of community, crippling individuals and dragging the real “Community” down.
The mess all comes back to human nature. Many citizens want free stuff from the government. Many tender hearts now seem to want government to take care of everyone. The politicians are seeking power and wealth so they give away free stuff to buy votes from the tender hearts and the lazy citizens and in doing so they create more lazy citizens. Plus, government welfare programs do not get fixed with logical solution because the politicians want votes or don't want to lose votes. There is little hope when government is running the show. On the other hand, there is great and joyous hope when the folks are running the show.
Yes we need manageable safety nets like those of your childhood. The trouble is when safety nets are provided by government they are run by politicians and bureaucrats, destined to be fraught with fraud, inefficiencies, extraordinary waste, corruption, bloating, and political bickering and gridlock. We have millions of wonderful tender hearts willing to help through charitable giving and hard work. I say turn the people loose, just like we saw from the wisdom of the Pilgrims at Plymouth!
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