When I say, when I was a kid, I mean fifty years ago. It's a fact that is often lost on me. Sure doesn't seem like fifty years have past. That's a long time when you put it that way. Now, to some, I'm a senior citizen. Well that's better than being a senior illegal I suppose. There are a great number of them around these days. Some have been here as long as I have! But I'm not going to get into all of that. My observation being we used to assume everyone was a citizen. Of course we assumed there were two genders so there's that. Things sure have changed in the last fifty years1. I remember watching commercials for cigarettes. I'd walk a mile for a Camel and step up, step, step all the way up, to Kool. Now that's bad, very bad, but we are legalizing smoking pot! Well, they only advertise for the CBD oil, a miracle treatment for most everything, and it's cool because you don't get high. Still, we can use that oil as an avenue to legalize pot, funny how that works. But it's all just a change in societal attitudes and sensibilities. My feeling being we are attempting to live in a world we wish existed, instead of the one that does. The American dream? No I don't believe that was the American Dream I was told about. In my American Dream if you work hard, do the right things, you can succeed. It is up to you to make that dream a reality, it isn't a government benefit! Dreams aren't entitlements. Success and failure depends upon you.
Since I was a kid, fifty years ago, I have seen government become more of an impediment to that success than anything else. In an attempt to make everything " fair " the playing field has been tilted. Success has become an uphill battle against government intervention in our lives. Now I still believe our Republic is the best system of government in the world today. I won't go as far as saying it is perfect, but certainly the best we have. Government has slowly been infected from within though, infected by the career politicians. In the beginning of the Republic, long before I was a kid, the public was the government. Slowly government detached itself from the public. No longer a government of the people, but a government of politicians. A government not so concerned with defending liberties, as defining what those liberties are. The greater portion of those " liberties " involve paying some form of tax, fee, or compensation to the government. You can do that as long as you pay for it! Works that way with certain moral actions as well. But I won't go there this morning.
Since I was a kid, fifty years ago, there have been great strides made in medicine and technology. What defines a society is what they do with those advances. Are they made available to everyone? They are, for a fee. That's the way it works. Supply and demand. I have a product or service that you want, or need, and you have to pay for that. Should government assume custody of those? That is to say, should government provide all of that, to every citizen? Some people will say yes, the governmet should provide that to those in need. The issue then becomes defining need. How do we define that? Is it based solely on your ability to pay? Is that it? If I fail to do anything to improve my condition, I just don't do a thing, can I create that need? A need the government is then obligated to fulfill? Or should I have to first demonstrate that I have put forth my best effort, tried my hardest, but circumstances have conspired against me, it's just not my fault. Then having demonstrated that I gain eligibility?
Since I was a kid , fifty years ago, a great deal of that has changed. I would say in a general way charity, and the asking of it has become a far more acceptable attitude. Indeed, many today see charity as an entitlement. They don't ask for it, they demand it. If they are refused charity, they will attempt to gain that through the legal system! Now Government and Charity do not belong in the same sentence. Something that has changed in the last fifty years. The Social Security Act passed in 1935 led to the demise of the Alms Houses, also known as County homes. By the time I was born in 1953 most of those homes had closed their doors, the belief being Social Security and Medicare would provide for the old people. It was the aged and the infirm that occupied those county homes in the early part of the twentieth century. So, they closed and now homelessness has increased dramatically, the old folks can't afford to live in a care facility of any type, and there are cries of more charity from the government. Where county homes the answer? They were practical that much is certain. Where there abuses? Of course there were. Were they a realistic alternative to just living in the street?
When I was a kid the threat of " going to the poor house " was a reality. At least it had been a reality to my parents and grandparents. They could have easily wound up there. Many did, through no fault of their own, circumstances conspiring to bankrupt them. Thing is, the poor house isn't somewhere you wanted to go. Why? Was it the conditions there? Was it shame? Or was it the realization that being sent there obligated you to the government. Yes, if you were physically able you had to work, be productive, you couldn't just lie around. There was a consequence! Receiving charity from the government wasn't a release from obligation, it was a commitment to one! You had to be productive.
Since I was a kid, fifty years ago, a lot has changed. But it isn't just the fifty years I am aware of. I was influenced by those remembering when they were a lid, fifty years ago. That's why I thought my parents were old fashioned. And my grandparents, well they came from a totally different time period. Still their attitudes and ideas were transferred to me and I adopted some. Some are ideas from the last century! I have thought about that. When I say when I was a kid, fifty years ago, I am talking about the mid twentieth century! My grandchildren weren't born until the 21st! When I was a kid, fifty years ago, it never occurred to me that my grandparents were born in the 19th century! OMG Some of the ideas I have come from there. It doesn't make them less valid though.
Since I was a kid, fifty years ago, I have seen government become more of an impediment to that success than anything else. In an attempt to make everything " fair " the playing field has been tilted. Success has become an uphill battle against government intervention in our lives. Now I still believe our Republic is the best system of government in the world today. I won't go as far as saying it is perfect, but certainly the best we have. Government has slowly been infected from within though, infected by the career politicians. In the beginning of the Republic, long before I was a kid, the public was the government. Slowly government detached itself from the public. No longer a government of the people, but a government of politicians. A government not so concerned with defending liberties, as defining what those liberties are. The greater portion of those " liberties " involve paying some form of tax, fee, or compensation to the government. You can do that as long as you pay for it! Works that way with certain moral actions as well. But I won't go there this morning.
Since I was a kid, fifty years ago, there have been great strides made in medicine and technology. What defines a society is what they do with those advances. Are they made available to everyone? They are, for a fee. That's the way it works. Supply and demand. I have a product or service that you want, or need, and you have to pay for that. Should government assume custody of those? That is to say, should government provide all of that, to every citizen? Some people will say yes, the governmet should provide that to those in need. The issue then becomes defining need. How do we define that? Is it based solely on your ability to pay? Is that it? If I fail to do anything to improve my condition, I just don't do a thing, can I create that need? A need the government is then obligated to fulfill? Or should I have to first demonstrate that I have put forth my best effort, tried my hardest, but circumstances have conspired against me, it's just not my fault. Then having demonstrated that I gain eligibility?
Since I was a kid , fifty years ago, a great deal of that has changed. I would say in a general way charity, and the asking of it has become a far more acceptable attitude. Indeed, many today see charity as an entitlement. They don't ask for it, they demand it. If they are refused charity, they will attempt to gain that through the legal system! Now Government and Charity do not belong in the same sentence. Something that has changed in the last fifty years. The Social Security Act passed in 1935 led to the demise of the Alms Houses, also known as County homes. By the time I was born in 1953 most of those homes had closed their doors, the belief being Social Security and Medicare would provide for the old people. It was the aged and the infirm that occupied those county homes in the early part of the twentieth century. So, they closed and now homelessness has increased dramatically, the old folks can't afford to live in a care facility of any type, and there are cries of more charity from the government. Where county homes the answer? They were practical that much is certain. Where there abuses? Of course there were. Were they a realistic alternative to just living in the street?
When I was a kid the threat of " going to the poor house " was a reality. At least it had been a reality to my parents and grandparents. They could have easily wound up there. Many did, through no fault of their own, circumstances conspiring to bankrupt them. Thing is, the poor house isn't somewhere you wanted to go. Why? Was it the conditions there? Was it shame? Or was it the realization that being sent there obligated you to the government. Yes, if you were physically able you had to work, be productive, you couldn't just lie around. There was a consequence! Receiving charity from the government wasn't a release from obligation, it was a commitment to one! You had to be productive.
Since I was a kid, fifty years ago, a lot has changed. But it isn't just the fifty years I am aware of. I was influenced by those remembering when they were a lid, fifty years ago. That's why I thought my parents were old fashioned. And my grandparents, well they came from a totally different time period. Still their attitudes and ideas were transferred to me and I adopted some. Some are ideas from the last century! I have thought about that. When I say when I was a kid, fifty years ago, I am talking about the mid twentieth century! My grandchildren weren't born until the 21st! When I was a kid, fifty years ago, it never occurred to me that my grandparents were born in the 19th century! OMG Some of the ideas I have come from there. It doesn't make them less valid though.
No comments:
Post a Comment