Odd Thoughts That Occur While Working

As I read about our inability to have open and honest dialogue regarding health care I grow frustrated. As a fiscal conservative I operate from a viewpoint that man is fundamentally flawed (in need of a Savior) and given the opportunity will take advantage of the system (either rich or poor). As I listen to my more liberal friends they tend to believe man is fundamentally good and given the choice will make the proper choice most of the time. As I work on my house remodel project and have followed the honors heaped on Senator Kennedy, it started to occur to me that it is indeed liberals who believe man to be fundamentally flawed and numerous laws are necessary to control his behavior. If man were fundamentally good why would we have ever needed Title IX? The universities would have seen the obvious inequities between men's and women's sports and corrected them. If we were fundamentally good the Disabilities Act would never have been necessary, communities would have seen how difficult we were making life for those with physical handicaps and they would have banded together to correct those errors. We would never have needed a government to show us what ought to have been obvious.

I also question whether or not all the support for those in poverty has had any positive effect since the war on poverty other than to create a generational poverty problem for those of us in education. My idea is that you get five years of total support. Yes, one hundred percent support, housing, food, medical, dental, education, job training, counseling, and a two year old car. At the end of five years you are on your own. Not one dime more for the duration, not you, children or grandchildren. We must find a way to stop the attitude that is permeating high schools, someone has taken care of my grandparents, parents, and someone will take care of me. Why work hard in school, my parents have a apartment, cable tv, food, medical, etc. never mind they are a slave to the system. They have no freedom to travel, it looks like an easy life so why should I expect any more and why should I ever put forth effort? I get very nervous the liberal point of view regarding public aid is more of an enslavement mentality. Let's make the poor dependent upon the government for everything, they will vote for those of us who give them more but they won't be there to compete for the limited number of jobs we seem to have in this country. My mom grew up poor but because there was no support system provided by the government she pushed and pushed for each child to get an education and get a good job. No complaining about the teachers, no complaining about the homework, do it. Do it well and there will be a positive payoff. My teachers never had to read books about the "culture of poverty" and "other peoples children" because even if you were poor you raised your children to work and better yourself. Where did that attitude go?

I found it interesting to read the French Prime Minister admitting their social system is broke. They can't afford all the benefits, the debt is too deep, the benefits too expensive, major changes must be made and yet, call it what you will, we are following their path. We never see the errors of others, our arrogance is like a blinder, we never have a discourse on options, we blindly go where others have trod and failed. Government officials using Twitter to keep people posted is no substitute for real discussion, deep philosophical discussion about where we want this country to be in twenty-five or fifty years. We must stop looking beyond the two term max a president may serve. Fifty-nine percent of the population in the U.S. paying taxes, no matter the rate, cannot pay for an additional nine trillion in debt. The time to discuss is now.