If You Care Don’t Ask the Government to Help

If you truly care about the needy, that last place you should look for assistance is a government agency. Government agencies and their perpetual quest to help the needy are the reason the numbers of needy have grown. Yet we still hear from seemingly educated people that we need the government to help.

I guess it’s hard to understand that the government as a compassionate entity is hopeless. I think that people that put their faith in government fail to realize that it is not their wishful thinking that makes people compassionate, it is people with compassion and the willingness to spend their own time and money is what makes for compassion.  

Too often liberal people want someone else to help the poor and that “someone else” for liberals is the government. Even when the evidence is clear that government is a failure at almost everything it does, why would we subject the needy to the workings of a failed government bureaucracy?

Detroit is a city that is the shining example of a place that embraced government intrusion in every aspect of the city’s management. Chicago streets are the shining example of government programs designed to help minority youth in the city. NYC is the shining example of how government programs have chased many of the most successful from the city and if Wall Street financial firms ever decide to go to another city, it would be completely devastated. Public education is an absolute failure in DC, NYC, LA, Chicago, Houston, and every other major city in this country.

Black Americans have too often relied on government programs for their subsistence. I will only say that having grown up in the Bronx, I can tell you first hand, those government programs have created dependency and stolen the hope of multiple generations of Black Americans.

The healthcare system is being destroyed right before our eyes because of government tinkering and liberals still can’t figure out that the place to put your faith is in yourself and the individual. It is not complicated.

I wish liberal people would stop trying to “help” others by asking the government to do what private citizens and civic and church groups are much better suited to do if you actually want to help the needy…

The Pope is Right and Wrong

The Pope recently chided the world for the worshiping of “the God of money.”  The under tone of the comments were a criticism of capitalism. The Pope was right that worshiping money for the sake of money is to have an empty life. But the Pope was wrong when he said “"We don't want this globalised economic system which does us so much harm. Men and women have to be at the centre (of an economic system) as God wants, not money.” "The world has become an idolator of this god called money," he said. This argument is too simple and could easily be heard by any two bit dictator of the world rousing the people’s ire.

The greatest way to end poverty is to unleash the human desire to take care of one’s self through the creation of products and services to be used by fellow humans. Capitalism is the answer to the world’s woes. To say that the worker is the where we need to focus is wrong. We need to nurture the free exchange of goods and services by individual and every size business. When we nurture business we create jobs. When we create jobs we need workers. To say you support workers but demonize the people that create work is a circular argument that ends the same, no work or workers.

Money is not evil. The pursuit of money is not evil. Money is simply the mechanism used to exchange goods and services in a market. The more money you make the better off your circumstances. The Pope needs money to travel. Nothing is free. So the idea that the pursuit of money is the problem in the world is a really disingenuous argument to create envy among the people. The Pope seems to want to blame capitalism and the pursuit of money as the reason for poverty in the world. The reason for poverty in the world is government control of the economies of the poorest nations. Show me a poor country and I will show you a corrupt government. Socialist, communist, and dictatorships are the cause of poverty. Any attempt to control people and markets smothers the economy.

There are greedy people in the world and they are usually found in those corrupt governments. There are some captains of industry that are greedy but in America most contribute to the many charities and causes that help the less fortunate. It is their choice to do so and that is the way it should be. To take their hard earned money under the guise of “fairness” is the real greed. That is what corrupt governments do.

The Pope needs to be a promoter of capitalism around the world if he really wants to help the workers of the world. To stoke the fire of envy in the world is below the dignity of his position. The Catholic Church has a history of keeping property in the ownership of the Church. One of the many reasons Priests were forbidden to marry has roots in keeping property in the “family.” In the 9^th century priests that were married willed property to their wives and in 1123 celibacy was made was made official. Was that dictate out of greed? Why not share the accumulated property of the church? Why not sell the Vatican and its furnishings to give to the poor?

I am not trying to bash the Catholic Church. I was raised catholic and we had family friends that were priests. But the Pope needs to nurture the spirit of the human condition which is fed through freedom, the dignity of work and the ability to be compassionate. The most compassionate people are those that have succeeded through a capitalist economy. The Pope needs to support capitalism and the pursuit of a better life for all and that requires money…

 

Live or Let Die?

Deciding what to do at the end of one’s life is not the decision of any government bureaucracy. It is an individual choice that is a painful and difficult decision for both the individual facing that decision and the family members of that individual that must live with the loss.

The fact is we are all going to die. Some of us will die unexpectedly, others will die naturally, and for some the end of life becomes so painful and agonizing decisions on how much longer they will live can be the catalyst for ethical and moral clashes. Some people that have been fighting cancer or other debilitating diseases are often in circumstances that become unbearable for that individual. Quietly they choose to move on to the next life and concede the battle. It is generally a peaceful process that is comforted with some of the wonderful drugs that have enabled us to ease the pain of our loved ones.

In some cases family members struggle to accept the inevitable process of dying and interject their own desire and selfishness to keep their loved one around through extra ordinary measures. Even when individual patients have DNR orders (Do Not Resuscitate) it is not unusual for family members to intercede and frantically request their love one be “saved”. This is not for the benefit of the patient but rather a guilt or unresolved issue with the family member. It is a very personal experience and every family works it out every day across this country. Rarely is the decision made based on money, it is usually the reality that the family member has made their peace with the world.

Healthcare and dying are personal. The dignity of patients and their families is paramount. There is no place in this decision for a federal government bureaucrat. But that is what is happening. Through the use of “incentives” for doctors to either be financially efficient or utilize specific programs that reduce the cost of maintaining the elderly, the federal government has worked their way into that very personal relationship between a patient, doctor, and family. The efforts of the federal government to influence a doctor’s decision on care, especially end of life care is not only unconstitutional it is morally appalling.

Healthcare has been hijacked by the government and insurance companies by creating a false marketplace that has no built in mechanisms to control itself. Just as it is a personal decision as to whether or not I purchase health insurance, it is a personal choice, and my individual right to liberty how I decide to manage the end of my life. I am not talking about promoting assisted suicide; I am promoting individual freedom and liberty. I don’t need the morality police or the federal bureaucrat deciding any aspect of my private care. I can choose to fight cancer with all of my power and resources or I can choose to save my resources and allow the natural outcome of my decision. Every individual should have that right. It may be uncomfortable for some but freedom is a very uncomfortable but undeniable right.

That is why I am vehemently against government in the healthcare industry. We need more private market incentives in the basics of healthcare allowing for a better market to develop for end of life care. We are all going to die whether we want to face it or not. But the federal government should not be impacting that aspect of our lives in any way. It is not only unconstitutional - it will end up being a criminal enterprise if allowed to continue. You mark my words…

The War on Wealth…

The left in this country, including this president have waged a final battle against the creation of wealth in this country. Since our founding, the American spirit has been driven by opportunity to better one’s circumstance through industrious labors. The people that came to this great land were lured by only one thing; opportunity to improve their lives through hard work and limited government intrusion.

The world was a different place before America, and opportunity to create wealth for your own consumption was a “foreign” concept. Most citizens of the day worked to improve the standing of the ruling class. There was little opportunity for individuals to prosper in the pre-America world. The world’s economic output was often incentivized through fear, coercion, and force. Not until the new American Experiment did the world have the chance to see how much more effective economic growth could be when put into the hands of the individual and the rewards of that labor left in the hands that created it.

The creation of wealth in America became the fuel that lifted millions of people around the world out of the most despicable circumstances through the generosity and ability created by individual ingenuity and wealth. When individuals are incentivized through private property and keeping the fruits of labor it is no mystery as to why wealth explodes and raises the circumstances of all within a society. It is simply the harnessing of human nature. Our instinct to provide for ourselves actually fuels our instincts to help our neighbor. The problem we have seen in America is that for too long the wealthy have been fueling compassion, and the recipients have forgotten where this charity comes from.

The tax system has become a mechanism to take one man’s fruits and distribute them to another for no sensible reason. We have seen generations of low income Americans become locked in a system that breeds dependency and steals the incentive to make it on their own. This system has become an industry with the captains of that industry being politicians. These politicians have a self interest in perpetuating poverty and dependency. They fund their “industry” by demonizing the wealth creators, creating envy, punishing wealth, and redistributing the wealth through punitive taxation. This war on wealth has created a class of people that now believe they are entitled to the wealth that is created by these individuals.

We are becoming morally bankrupt as a nation when we believe a person’s success should be a source of scorn and disgust. The question is never “when is enough, enough for the individual wealth creators”. The reality is the more wealth they create the more goes back into society in the form of jobs, investment, and charity. It is not the government’s role in America to decide that question. The government has become over reaching and must be returned to its constitutional role once again. These wealth creators should be celebrated as they were at the founding of this great republic. Without the incentives of individuals to keep the fruits of their labor we harvest less fruit. As the fruit diminishes the dependent class gets restless and demands more from the captains of their industry. The captains demand more from the wealth creators and we find ourselves back in a system where wealth creation is driven by fear, coercion, and force. The engine sputters to a halt and collapses on itself.

We are not far from this point right now. Our tax system must be utilized to provide only the services necessary to conduct a law abiding society. Individuals again must be incentivized through the rewards of their labor. Right now the wealth creators are slowing down their activity because they are being punished and demonized. The wealth creators have not received their rewards through any special circumstance but the industrious spirit they pursue. The envy, jealousy, and demonization of the wealthy is going to destroy the American Spirit. Wealth distribution has already destroyed the people dependent on others. If we don’t stop demonizing wealth we will have nothing to demonize in the very near future…

Capitalism; The fuel of Compassion and Freedom…

Too many politicians demonize the capitalist system as greedy and ruthless but that characterization is stereotypical and dangerous. It is stereotypical in nature due to the overexposure greedy executives get in movies, in particular “Wall Street”. It is dangerous to demonize capitalism because it is the engine of freedom, and without the profits and charity of successful businesses and individuals, we don’t have the funds necessary to protect our country or fund our benevolence.

The simple reason capitalism is successful is it harnesses the power of individual human nature to survive and compete. When this quality of human nature is incentivized within a framework of laws it unleashes unbridled dreams and passions that individuals have to provide a prosperous life for them and their families. It is only when the laws of this system are broken do we see the greedy aspect of capitalism. Greed is the exception not the rule. The ability to make and keep profits is the reason we work so hard and are so compassionate. If we were not able to keep the reward of our labor there would be no reason to work. You could be forced to work to eat and have a roof over your head as many a socialist system has, but this is counter to human nature. It fails everywhere it is tried. We as individuals do everything for our own benefit. Now this may seem counter intuitive to compassion but compassion cannot exist without first satisfying our basic needs. And capitalism satisfies those basic needs quickly and fully which fuels our ability to be benevolent.

In my mind it is simple so why do politicians continue to bash the system that feeds so much benevolence? Envy is the answer. Capitalism is an objective system that doesn’t care what demographic group you come from; it simply rewards and punishes behavior. It rewards people that work hard, create needs in a market, fulfill that need, and have the ability to change when the market does. It punishes laziness, bad ideas, and businesses that stagnate and become obsolete in the marketplace. It is the fairest system in the world. Although politicians claim to support fairness they actually thrive on creating a false sense of envy. They harvest the emotion of envy to fuel their own interests most often to get and stay in elected office. They take the fairest economic system in the world and claim it favors certain groups more than others. They ignore the hard work it takes to be successful and suggest that these people are only successful because they have an unfair advantage over others. It is completely false but for many people that don’t want to do the work or haven’t been as successful they embrace that argument and support programs that punish success; including their own.

If we want to remain the most benevolent, prosperous, and free nation in the world we must support capitalism. We must work as hard as we can to make as much money as we can so we can share our success with the causes close to our heart. The government has no heart and the more programs government creates to be “benevolent” the less benevolent people become and the more people are destroyed by these government programs.

Don’t be fooled by the stereotypes and mis-characterizations of people that are successful. It is a ploy that must be recognized and ignored. We are compassionate because we are successful. We should be proud of that in America. And it is only possible because of capitalism…