I'm Glad You Asked......

Occasionally I rant about the government's "war on poverty," and exactly what is the exit strategy? For as long as I've been on this earth and decades before, the government has been fighting this battle, and by all accounts losing. Recent statistics show there are more people on government assistance and specifically "food stamps" than at any other time in history. Is this progress? It's very apparent that the "solutions" offered by those in Washington have done little to relieve the issue, and truth be told, have enhanced the problem!

Now I've long been a proponent of business being the long term solution to this problem, backed by charitable organizations that teach as well as support those in need. Businesses produce goods and services that produce jobs. Maintaining and encouraging productive and profitable business is the answer to poverty. So why do we constantly erect road blocks to discourage the answer to our most trying social problem?

America used to be the most business friendly environment on the planet. We actually encouraged business to prosper and flourish! That led to a lifestyle that the world envied. Recently through taxation and regulation we've restricted that atmosphere and that has encouraged business to migrate to a more profitable climate. The same bureaucracy that has stymied the business community, is the one handing out the government assistance to those in need. Essentially doing the work of charity, not governing. Being the benefactor to those in need has become lucrative for the politician, it provides the votes they need to retain office and yield power. In fact they demonize business as greedy capitalist, exploiting the labor force and creating social inequality. To whom does that end serve? Only Satan himself wants to keep people in the wretched bondage of lifelong poverty and it's hard to think of a better way to do it than to encourage people to think that business is fundamentally evil. I'm willing to bet that Satan would even go as far as to have us believe that business, in all it's greed and selfishness, would purposely harm our environment.

What better way to discourage this activity than to over tax it, or put insurmountable regulation in it's path? Why is it the government feels it's best suited to serve those in need as opposed to the charities equipped and designed to lift people up out of their poverty and bondage? Isn't that the mantra of the former super powers like North Korea, Cuba, China, and the former Soviet Union? What level of affluence have the citizens of those countries enjoyed, and why do we feel it necessary to follow their lead? These are outstanding questions one should ask themselves prior to selecting a candidate and voting for the people who represent you in government....

God Bless!
Capt. Bill