Let's Pull Those Weeds!

Many of us are up in arms over the proposed government takeover of healthcare, but it's just one in a string of many entitlement programs that are just plain wrong. Legislators are convincing us to put a band aid on what amounts to a severed artery. The entitlements they offer are not cures, but simply enable bad thinking and behavior. They just are not the answer for the problems, any of them.

Let's go to the root of the problem, the irreducible minimum if you will. A lack of healthcare insurance is a lack of responsibility. A lack of employment is a lack of responsibility, A lack of food for your family is a lack of responsibility. Does supplying healthcare to anyone repair stinking thinking? How about unemployment insurance? What about food stamps? The same applies for every entitlement program the government offers us Is social security a repair for bad financial planning or simply another band aid? Substitute any program, welfare, medicaid, medicare, they all fit in the sentence.

Example....

If you lacked food to feed your family, and had no government program, no family to help you, no neighbors to lean on, where would you turn? Personally I'd be where charity is the mission statement, church. With their kindness and charity would come some counseling, as the church wants you back on your feet, and serving others. The government doesn't offer that. Here's your food stamps, see you next month, is their mantra. Where as the church will help you overcome the personal problems that keep you from holding a job and being responsible. They redeem you and set you back on the right path. They don't enable you to continue bad behavior. This and this alone is reason enough for the government not to be involved in charity, or the redistribution of wealth.

The church realizes the root of the problem is you. The government thinks the problem is society. The church fixes the problem one soul at a time, the government looks at the problem as a whole.

Unemployment benefits insure unemployment. I can't tell you how many people have told me they didn't take employment because it did pay as well as their benefit. They also say without those benefit checks, they would have been back to work ASAP. Do you know New Jersey is paying as high as $600.00 / week to remain unemployed? How about the states that give you 99 weeks of benefits? That's just five weeks short of a two year vacation! A private charity would have you employed or doing chores about the grounds to rebuild your work ethic, they correct stinking thinking and insist you become a productive member of society. Otherwise, like the government has found out, there is a never ending supply of needy folks with their hands out. It's amazing how resilient and resourceful Americans can be when backed in a corner.

Okay so there are people who will forever need assistance. Granted, but which is more effective and efficient, medicaid or St. Jude's Children's hospital? Both provide free care, one is fraud free and operates within it's budget, the other sucks your tax money. Which works better, the Salvation Army, or the food stamp program? I'll bet the farm the Salvation Army has more success stories. How about the Social Security Administration taking 15% of your life's earnings and returning less than $2000.00/ month to live on, verses, you being fiscally responsible and saving 15% of your income? Want to bet me which will give you a better standard of living when you retire? Who would you rather trust your package to....the post office, or UPS?

The government does some things better than anyone. They have the greatest armed forces in the world. They are spectacular at printing our currency. But them charities don't compete with the government on those levels, so why should the government compete with charity?

Psssst, the answer is.......There is money involved. Without an economic reason, there would be no government involvement. Government's job is to govern....Charity's job is to give and rehab.

Now that I've made you all late to work, this is a little long winded. I say all of this to get this point across....There are people who work tirelessly to separate church and state, yet the government insists upon interfering with the church's mission statement, charity. Government throwing money at these problems, will not solve them. Faith, and the principles attached will rebuild the recipient, and aid him to serve his creator and fellow humans. So to address these problems you have to go to the base. You can't remove weeds by pulling the tops off, you must extract the root. Faith is the round-up of stinking thinking!

God Bless
Capt. Bill