My parents weren’t rich growing up.  In fact, we lived in poverty.  Things are different now, of course, but they made it through without government help because, quite frankly, they didn’t know who to ask or what was available.

They didn’t take food stamps, or WIC, or anything like that.  They just worked hard to raise my sister and me.  Save as much money as they could, bought a house in the suburbs, and sent us to college.

This is the American dream that I know.  You come from nothing and raise a family.

I don’t understand why people see the government as someone to take care of them.  My parents didn’t have to get help from the government.  Why should anyone else?

Today, we have social security (the biggest Ponzi scheme in the history of the WORLD), medicare, medicaid, Section 8 housing…and now, the government is going to offer healthcare.  Why should this be a government responsibility?

No where in the Constitution does it say that the government is supposed to be a rich uncle who provides everything for you.  People have used the preamble in Section 8 to justify these programs (“Congress shall…provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States”, emphasis mine).  This never meant individual welfare.  While the government does have a vested-interest in the health and wellbeing of it’s citizens, it must do so by providing the environment to thrive, not just hand out help.

Allow me to digress a bit to illistrate this point.  Late last week, I attended a neighborhood watch meeting.  A few of the residence in my community came by and heard an officer share what’s going around the neighborhood.  What was interesting was that this was the first time any of us met each other for the first time.  One resident, who lived there since the community was built, said that this was the first time for her to meet me.  (I moved in about a year and a half ago.)

This is very common: people who are neighboors have never met each other.  Only see each other as they pass by.  Only see the need to talk to them because their music is too loud or the grass hasn’t been cut.  Sometimes, they won’t even do that!  To avoid confrontation, many will just call the police and make a complaint.

So instead of walking over and asking kindly as a neighbor to cut the grass, turn down the music, they call the goverernment.  This woman who had lived in the community since it was built said, “It’s a sad reflection of our society.”

I say it’s a sad reflection of ourselves.  We wouldn’t need the government to babysit us if neighbors helped each other eagerly.  We’d help eacher eagerly if we got to know each other personally and not just by an address.  Everyone goes through hard times.  The government should not be the first place someone turns to for help: it should be their neighbors, friends, and family.

If we simply took the time to get to know each other, we wouldn’t need any of these government programs.  If anything, the government would look at our communities and say, “Wow, what can I do to make sure these communities flurish?”

I’d answer, “Absolutely nothing.”

Editorial | RSS 2.0 | Comment it , or trackback this post.