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…

Blame the Federal Government not the Rich

We are working less because the federal government is squeezing out the private sector. The “rich” are to blame according to the President and his party, but it is he and his party that are destroying the opportunity class and our future economic recovery. There is a full court press by this President to blame the rich and many will believe him but will never see a recovery until they accept the truth. The truth is that the only “plan” he has is to destroy the rich by taking away their incentive to produce through higher taxes and increased regulation.

If you believe the federal government is the answer, you are a significant part of the problem. Until we cut federal spending and intrusion into our lives we will continue on this path of misery. The federal government does not care about the individual. It is a leach that can only survive by sucking the blood of its host, the American economy. It does that by limiting freedom and stealing the wealth of the producers.

We can’t wait another 3 years to fix this and turn our country around. The 2014 election cycle needs to change the leadership in the house and senate. It is not republicans that will turn us around. It will be constitutional conservatives that happen to be republicans who are the leaders we need. We also need to follow the advice and guidance of Mark Levin.

The Liberty Amendments, the newest book from Mark Levin has the answer. We need to activate the state legislatures to stop the out of control bureaucracy in DC. There is no one in the federal government that can be counted on to put themselves out of business. We need to do it in the states if we are to survive.

This road will be difficult but the road we are on will be devastating. Stop blaming the rich and understand that the federal government is to blame. It is time to take back control and fix this country. It is up to us and the states. Stop investing any hope in people that are living off the federal largesse. They will protect their largesse with the fury of a cornered animal. We need to start acting like the cornered animal we are…

Single Payer Will Never Work…

We are now hearing the true intentions of Obamacare as a “single payer” system. What that really means is the government becomes the only “insurer” of healthcare. Ultimately the government becomes a monopoly for approval of services provided, and the payment for those services to medical professionals which are doctors and hospitals.

The reason it can’t work is basic economics. Supply and demand will create two systems: one will be for people that can’t afford to pay out of pocket, and those that are willing to pay out of pocket. I will describe the two systems and you tell me which one is likely to prevail.

Single Payer: Under this system the government becomes the insurer and will decide how much the premium will cost, what health services it will cover, and how much it will pay the provider (doctor/hospital) for the service. There is no competition to the government so premiums will continue to rise whether it is through individuals being forced to pay more or some kind of increased tax to subsidize individuals. The individual will only be able to get healthcare that is covered. This is where the death panels come in. In order to contain skyrocketing costs because now everyone thinks healthcare is “free” (demand increases to unsustainable levels), hip replacements for example, will be subject to a government bureaucrat’s approval. If you are 80 years old in marginal health, do you think the replacement will be approved? Long lines, doctor shortages, and poor care will be the results of this system. Doctors and hospitals will create a separate system in order to make more money.

Free Market Care: This system will develop because of the inefficiency, corruption; wait times, lack of doctors and hospitals, and fundamental collapse of the government single payer system. Doctors and hospitals will limit the care they provide to the government system or completely drop out of the single payer system, and start an all cash system. This system will work on all of the free market system principles and thrive. People that can afford to pay will pay out of pocket. They will get excellent care, short wait times, and will get any service based on their willingness to pay. Doctors and hospitals will charge what the market, (people willing to pay a price) keeping them incentivized to provide the service. This is the same principle every business works under in a free market system. This is the system we should be embracing now but we have too many people that think the government is a good alternative, especially leftists.

There will be some attempts by the government to make laws that force doctors to provide service to their patients, and laws that make it illegal to set up private practices, but this will create a revolution of types and most likely will be termed slavery, therefore unconstitutional.

“Single Payer” is code for government controlled, socialist healthcare. The healthcare system can’t sustain itself with the government in control. It will destroy itself under the weight of incompetence. We already have every entitlement the federal government controls now on a path to bankruptcy. Taking on healthcare will exponentially reduce the time it takes to get there…

The True Seed of Racism

We all want to associate with people that share our values. It is human instinct, a survival mechanism, and creates for a civil society. The values often include things like religious beliefs, work ethic, educational desires, housing preferences, and economic status. But when people that believe that racism is a motivating factor to the makeup of a neighborhood (like the HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan has proposed), programs like the “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” is born.

This program assumes that if a zip code has too many people of one race then it must be the result of racism. When you think about the logic of this type of thought, you can’t find any. I compel you to think about why you live in the neighborhood you do? Is it because you’re racist? Or is it because you wanted a good school for your kids, it has a Church you can attend, maybe a nice shopping area, a short commute to work, open space or in the city, and it is a place you could afford to buy a house.

When the population demographics are simply looked at from a race perspective, how do you evenly distribute a Black population of 13%, Hispanic population of 15%, and the White population at 72% (2010 Census data) throughout the zip codes of America as this plan intends to do? More importantly, why would you think that race is a factor in any of it? This is the true reason why the people in the federal government and the left are so dangerous and it is why racism persists.

By trying to force people to live together by simply looking at race, you stir up resentment between the races. The assumption that race is why people live in a particular neighborhood, and then forcing that neighborhood to make housing exceptions in their neighborhood based on race, is divisive. What I mean by exceptions is the fact that forcing people into a neighborhood without the necessary means to live there undermines the economics of the neighborhood. The people that live in that neighborhood have worked, saved, and sacrificed everything to be able to live there. Now you are going to give it to someone that hasn’t done the same to get there like everyone else regardless of race has had to do? That fosters resentment. Not to mention the fact that they are using the tax dollars they have taken from you to make this possible.

Whenever you undermine the values that it takes to live somewhere, you foster resentment toward the people that receive that handout. Racism is on the rise in America not because we are racist, but because racists are stirring the pot with programs like the “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” program. No matter what race a person is, if they can afford a house in the neighborhood on their own merit, they will be accepted into that community in 99% of all of the communities in America. I know the liberals and left that push these programs don’t believe that but the rest of us know it as a fact.

Racism is on the rise in America because we have a President and an administration that believes the answer to “fixing” racism is by being racist. To look exclusively at race to “fix” and “diversify” a neighborhood is to not understand what makes human beings tick. Common values don’t rely exclusively on race. Religious beliefs do not rely exclusively on race. Work Ethic does not rely exclusively on race. Living in a city or suburb does not rely exclusively on race. All of these values are based on individual choices that people make when living their lives. They have nothing to do with race. All races make similar choices when they choose where to live. It is just that race is an easy assumption to make for people that are racist. That is the seed of racism and we need to stop watering it if we want it to die…

The Government’s Definition of “Fair”…

What is fair? Is life meant to be fair? Is it fair that you have to be 6’8” to play in the NBA? Is it fair that you have to run fast to be a marathon runner? Is it fair that you have to be smart to get into Harvard? In order to make many things that we value fair, we have to change the rules and then accept the outcomes of those changes.

In order to make access to becoming an NBA player fair we would have to put in place rules like: there needs to be the same amount of woman, Asians, Whites, Hispanics, and Black players on every team. These players would need to be divided into players that are no taller than 5’1”, 5’8” and 7’0”. This would eliminate the dominance of tall players. We would also have to include a number of slots for people that are disabled. The list of rules to make the game fair could go on for pages.

We could take every institution, profession, and employment opportunity there is and make rules to make the possibility of entry to them fair but the results would all be the same; fair = distributed misery. There is no such thing as ensuring fair outcomes without manipulating the inputs. If you manipulate the inputs it is guaranteed to impact the outcomes in a negative way.

The rules of the game must be fair. The US Constitution is the rule of the game for this country. The Constitution offers a guideline for a limited intrusion into the freedom of the individual. These rules encourage people with exceptional skills, intellect, and drive to become successful without the intrusion of government bureaucrats forcing fairness on their outcomes.

Smart people will always be more successful than not so smart people. Big strong tall people will always have a better opportunity to be a professional sports player. People with a propensity to take risks will always be more likely to be successful entrepreneurs. The federal government can try to dictate that not so smart people should be smart but unless those people apply themselves the result will diminish the institutions they are enrolled in. The federal government can dictate that the NBA hires small uncoordinated people but the result is the NBA will lose its fans. The federal government can give money to people to start businesses based on something other than skill but the result will be less business at a high cost.

You can make the access to opportunity fair by making the rules of entry the same for everyone. You can try to make the outcome of results fair but that is a fool’s errand. We are not equal when it comes to skills, knowledge, God given genes, and drive, so how do you dictate success? The only way to make outcomes fair is to distribute misery.  And that is something the federal government and all government bureaucracies are really good at… Spreading misery…

Obama Phones: A Telling Tale

Find the entire Obama Phone story here.

It is almost a natural reflex in today’s mixed up, backwards world of politics to turn to the government to “fix” things in our society. Whether it’s; obesity, speeding, freak accidents, bad behavior, or a reaction to any headline the media decides to put front and center. A man jumps off a bridge, lower the bridge. A woman leaves a dog in a car with the windows down, remove windows from cars. People flush 5 gallons of water down the toilet, make toilets 3 gallons. The underlying question is why Americans reflexively turn to the government to “fix” things?

Any casual review of the results of government programs will tell you; government is incompetent at best, evil at worst. Take the issue of Obama phones. To be fair to this president, the program that has become the Obama phone program was started long ago to bring basic service to the poor so they could have a basic line in case of emergency. It was a program of good intentions which is common with every government program, but the results? Fraud and abuse is the result.

Since the program was expanded to include cell phones in 2008, the costs have gone from $822 million to $2.2 billion. This well intentioned program is now being completely abused. But why would we be surprised? Look at Detroit, Camden, Newark, Chicago, NY, and many other places across the country that are littered with government programs intended to help the people it is destroying. Section 8 housing, food stamps, welfare, public education, Medicaid, and on and on. These programs have spread misery, poverty, and ignorance in the communities they are intended to help. So why would giving “free” cell phones be any different? Actually, why would any government program produce different results?

The Obama phones that this reporter was able to accumulate without even lying about his status shows the potential abuse of every government program. So why do we keep asking the government to get involved in matters that are best left for individuals, local communities, churches, and civic groups to fix? Is it just a reflex? Or is it that people just don’t know where else to turn? I think if we can figure out these questions we can begin to really fix our issues as a country.

This reporter received 3 Obama phones which he wasn’t even eligible to have. The reason was that the federal government promises to pay private carriers for every phone they give out under the program. Do you see a problem with that incentive? Why didn’t the federal government?