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    The Birth of Our Son, As Told By Me
       09/08/2010 by kristen
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    Healthcare "Reform" and the Movies


    Created on Monday, March 22, 2010        Bookmark and Share

    Home -> Blog -> 2010 -> March



    This may sound like a bit of an odd mix but this is actually a blog that I've wanted to write for a while.

    As you probably know, I do not belong to a political party. I would probably best be described as a social liberal and a fiscal conservative. That generally means that I'm a libertarian -more rights, less involvement around the world (i.e. war) and the government should stay out of my bedroom and pocket. I always find it curious when some people want the government out of our bedrooms but want them to help themselves to our pockets but that is a blog for another day.

    Our government's role is to serve and protect. It is tasked with helping those that can't help themselves, and I'm all for that. I would actually argue that we could do more for those that can't help themselves. My liberal friends have this same belief but we part ways with how this is to get done. A sees anyone that doesn't want to work as being in need of being taken care of while I see these people as taking money away from the people that really need it. The liberal would want to just get more money from someone else (never themselves - there is ALWAYS someone else) while I think the system should be fixed.

    I have two basic reasons for taking this position:

    First, it is not the government's job to be the caretaker of the American people. I don't know how much clearer that I can state that. There is nowhere in our foundation that suggests that someone that does not want to work is guaranteed a free pass. There is nothing in our mission statement that tasks the government with wealth redistribution. In fact, I think it is downright disgraceful that people think that they can just help themselves to someone else's possessions. I think that my liberal friends often mean well - they will often cite their religious beliefs and stuff like that. But you know what? If you want to be your brother's keeper or you think that this is a Christian nation and thus it is your duty, then have at it or have your church fulfill its perceived obligation. Passing the buck to the government or to someone else (and that is EXACTLY what it is) is wrong.

    But my bigger issue isn't even the government's responsibility to be everything to everyone. I was watching the fantastic movie Precious the other day when I was reminded of this very topic. As you may know, Precious is the daughter of a chronic enabler and a lifetime welfare recipient. Precious is urged to drop out of school to get on the welfare rolls so that she can start collecting. Precious' teacher fights the good fight. In one very moving scene, the tells Precious to look at the squalor in the neighborhood around her - "that is the legacy of Welfare".

    For some reason the liberals do not see it this way. I like to feed my cats because I love my cats. I know that if I feed/love them too much, I will slowly kill them. And this is the legacy of government entitlement. Generation after generation of poor and uneducated people with little or no incentive to increase their lot in life. To me, that is loving them in all of the wrong ways. By all means, give them an incentive to better themselves. Create programs in which they can learn skills. Give them money and healthcare while they are bettering themselves or seeking employment. But by no means should generation after generation be allowed to fall by the wayside. It reminds me from a scene from the movie "Dave". Near the end of the movie the fake-President (Kevin Kline) lays out what it is like for a person to get a job. They glow and they have a sense of purpose. Putting people on the government seat removes their dignity and sense of purpose.

    And this brings me to my final point. I was watching the awful The Blind Side (full review here, you may want to check it out) the other day and I was reminded of a trend that I've seen recently in American society. There is a feeling among many Americans (particularly white middle class and above) that they need to be the caretaker of those that are not white or middle class. And when I say "caretaker", I do not mean giving to charity or anything like that. It seems that this group seems to think that their group needs to fill some kind of paternal role to the child/other class. I firmly believe that this is part of the reason that The Blind Side was so appealing - it showed the elite being able to take care of the lesser class. At best it is condescending, at worst it is racist/ignorant. You hear this most often when matters of free and 'decent' speech is involved. Some paternalistic a-hole will decide that they need to be offended on behalf of someone else. I'm quite sure that this someone else is quite able to decide if they are offended or not.

    Anyway, that brings me to healthcare "reform". I think what scares me more than anything is that Obama will further move the government in the direction of entitlement. And once again, let me state the following before someone puts it in the comments: I am all for social programs. There are lots of great programs out there and they do lots of good things. I am all for streamlining said programs and making them more effective. I am all for giving effective programs more money. But I am not in favor of continually going back to the pockets of others before we've done one iota of cleaning up existing programs. It is easier to start a battle between classes than to suggest that we right our ship before going for more money. My favorite example of this is how ridiculous the increases in education spending have been when compared to the rate of inflation. If you dare ask "is this at all effective?, you're called uncaring.

    Anyway, that is my rant for today. Bubba sent along a great link to a speech given about the healthcare legislation. I wish I said it like this guy did.


    http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=G44NCvNDLfc

    More Freakanomics and Baby News   More in MARCH   Embarassed to bet on Idol

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