"Medicaid is essentially bankrupt, Medicare is essentially bankrupt, why the heck would we give the federal government another entitlement program to manage?" ~ Timothy Pawlenty
Offered here, an unapologetic rambling response to a partial comment made in the comments section of my previous blog entry:
A commenter made the following (unsubstantiated) statement:
"Before the implementation of Medicare 75% of seniors died in poverty."
My response: Yeah? Who says?
Don't answer that. It's a rhetorical question.
You'll just run to some Liberal web site and quote some so-called scholarly finding which doesn't prove a thing, except in your own Liberally indoctrinated mind.
Listen: I was in marketing management for the majority of my life and I've learned one can prove or disprove anything with numbers, so, before we get into a pissing contest trading statistics, know this:
I grew up in a large city with a median income level below the national poverty line. I've lived in and around ghettos all my life.
I've been poor. I've been homeless. I'm not rich by anyone's definition now. And I've never accepted hand-outs from the Government except for one time. Once (in 1979), I allowed the Government to give me $300.00 to pay my bills and feed my children when I was flat broke and unemployed and my wife had just had a baby. It was a temporary help and as soon as I got a job (within a week), I got off welfare.
And, I paid back the money.
That, Moron, is what welfare was intended to do. Be a hand up, not a hand-out.
I've also lived in public housing next door to two single women with children each who lived on either side of me. The one who lived directly to the south of me worked her butt off, and saved her pennies, and eventually bought a house and moved out of the projects. Her two children were polite and respectful.
I have respect for her.
The one who lived directly to the north of me spent her waking hours sitting in a chair in her front yard, chain smoking, and complaining constantly that the government wouldn't give her even more money than she was already receiving. Her 2 children stole and consorted with gang-bangers.
I have no respect for her.
I've also made the mistake (when I was a Liberal) of voluntarily donating money, time, and resources to some of these irresponsible, entitlement minded welfare brats, only to watch them ask for more and more, and no expressions whatsoever of gratitude.
So, don't give me statistics ad nauseum that supposedly disprove what I've witnessed with my own eyes and experienced in my own life. You won't convince me there's any validity to them.
The fact is, most poverty is caused by bad choices and a lack of personal responsibility. And the Liberal policies of Liberal government only make it worse by instilling in the irresponsible an entitlement mentality.
Do this simple experiment sometime: Go down to your local WalMart parking lot and count the number of welfare recipients who are parked illegally in the fire lane in front of the store. Why do they park there?
Because they think they're entitled to park there.
That's the mind set Liberal Governmental entitlement programs have spawned.
If 75% truly died in poverty before Medicare and not after Medicare (which is disputable), it was a result of their own bad choices and irresponsible behavior.
And, here's a news flash for you:
People in this country still die in poverty.
Every day. Do you know why? Because Liberal governmental policies have not rescued any entitlement-minded individual from poverty. They've only succeeded in creating more poverty and less personal responsibility.
And more criminals.
If you don't believe that, you are either brainwashed or willfully ignorant.
And, by the way, Obama's policies are going to create even more poverty. And more. And more. Before he's done, the number of people who will die in poverty may be as high as 90%.
Medicare is a failure, and it's nearly bankrupt.
Listen. If you want to mount a personal campaign to eliminate poverty by throwing money at the irresponsible, go for it. That's what you're allowed to do voluntarily.
No one's stopping you from throwing your money away.
But, as you've no doubt heard, it's better to teach a man to fish than to simply give him a fish dinner every day.
It isn't the Government's business or responsibility to wet nurse these babies.
Who made the U.S. government the world's babysitter?
Useful idiots like you.
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11 comments:
How can you believe that if government dropped all social programs personal charity would not only fill the void, but oversupply the need?
Every year our local United Way sets higher and higher goals. And every season our local food bank sends out letters to the media declaring a food emergency.
There's no government program getting in the way of people donating organs. Why are people on organ transplant waiting lists if personal charity is just begging to fill the need?
Let's cancel the school lunch program and watch churches pick up the slack.
You doubt the statistic that before Medicare 75% of seniors died in poverty, so let's cut the number in half. Would there be no need for Medicare if only 37% of seniors died in poverty?
"How can you believe that if government dropped all social programs personal charity would not only fill the void, but oversupply the need?"
Maybe because, like you, they assume the government will handle the job for them. Isn't that what your precious government constantly tells us? "Don't worry about the poor. We're taking care of that".
But they aren't, are they?
You've apparently missed two main points of my post:
1. Statistics prove nothing. They can be manipulated to prove any point. Pro or con.
2. Even with Medicare, Medicaid, and all your wonderful social programs, seniors still die in poverty.
Apparently the programs don't work.
So, if your point is that Christian charity doesn't work, you made your point. But if you are saying Government entitlement programs DO work, you are dead wrong.
Oh, and another point you failed to grasp:
Government entitlement programs only succeed in making the poverty problem worse, creating even more entitlement mentality welfare brats.
Now, if you have a constructive solution to the problem, offer it. Otherwise, stop trying to defend the indefensible.
OK. Looking over my response to your question, I now see I answered another question instead of the question posed. I will now rectify that:
How can I believe that personal charity would fill the void?
Because I have faith. Something which you are seriously lacking.
Although, I never said the Government should drop all social programs. I said Welfare was intended to offer a hand up, not a hand out. Perhaps if Government would stop handing out free money and return to helping people help themselves, those people now relying completely on Government entitlement programs with no intention to accept any personal responsibility for themselves would get off their lazy asses and go to work.
Then, there would be plenty of help to go around for those who are truly unable to help themselves from personal charities.
BenT - the Unbeliever: Your problem is that in your distorted logic you find come correlation between poverty and organ donations.
That, sir (or ma'am) is a shift in logic. One thought does not follow the other.
The kids who grew up when there was no school lunch program are the same ones who put us on the moon.
"What?" I hear you cry. "No lunch makes us smarter so we could put people on the moon?"
Nope. That's not related to my statement.
My statement means that school lunches or no school lunches has nothing to do with education. People were well educated long before we realized that it was the government's job to provide hamburgers, french fries and pizza to kids at school. They ate peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches.
The best thing you could do for yourself and those you want to help would be to take a couple of courses in straight-line logic.
Mark: You are SO right.
Just would like to point out that people who live ABOVE the poverty line die every day too from poor diet and lack of exercise.
It is a matter of personal choices and personal responsibility. Mark is completely correct.
And OUR poverty line is a joke anyway. People in third world countries live in one room lean-to's and mud shacks. They have two sets of clothes if they're lucky, go barefoot, and have no clue what it's like to have electricity or running water.
THAT'S poverty.
The poverty line in the contiguous is $10,830/yr (add $3,740 per person). That's a FORTUNE to most of the world's population!
And I've yet to figure out why the woman in front of me at check out gets more in foodstamps each week for groceries for four people than I have to spend in cash for seven. I'm amazed that she can come up with $50 for two cartons of cigarettes (1/3-1/2 of what I have for groceries depending on the week), but doesn't have money for food!
I won't even get into the people on welfare who drive 20 minutes to the liquor store (dry county) to purchase 4 cases of beer.
Most of my Haitian freinds would do just about anythin to live at the level we call poverty.
I'll admit there are people who exploit the system, but there are many who need it. Some don't make enough from working to survive; the number of working poor continues to grow.
I strongly disagree with your assumption that poverty is caused by irresponsibility. There are people who work their whole lives, as hard as they can, but just can't make enough to survive. Capitalism is a competitive system and some times hard work doesn't pay off as much as we like to believe.
If we reform the system a little to stop people from taking advantage of it, then I see no problem.
As for the other points made here; by your logic, those people in other countries who are under EXTREME poverty must be very irresponsible and lazy, right? In actuality, those people are victims of the system they are in, and are worked to death. We are lucky to live in this system, but that doesn't mean we should let our people fall to the level of their's; not with the resources we have available to us. ( I'm just having trouble understanding your differentientation between our hard-working poor, who you consider lazy, and those of other countries.)
Even with Medicare, Medicaid, and all your wonderful social programs, seniors still die in poverty.
True but without them the problem would be much worse.
Government entitlement programs only succeed in making the poverty problem worse, creating even more entitlement mentality welfare brats.
Be serious, who would want to spend their life living on welfare. There are a few but most people are willing to work hard to get out of their situation. Struggle to survive is the most effective motivation for work, and people on welfare are struggling, not living comfortably.
How can I believe that personal charity would fill the void?
Because I have faith. Something which you are seriously lacking.
Faith doesn't solve problems action does. If it has to be by the government, then so be it.
Now, if you have a constructive solution to the problem, offer it. Otherwise, stop trying to defend the indefensible.
1. Spend more on education
2.Reform welfare programs to make them have stricter guidelines for giving money.
3. Raise minimum wage
All are very effective ways of combating poverty, by offering a greater opportunity for success, without giving it to us without hard work, and dedication.
If you are so concerned about these people exploiting the system then why aren't you as concerned about the billions of dollars in tax cuts given to the ultra-rich who probably haven't worked a day in their lives.
As for our poverty line being a "joke". It is true that we enjoy a much higher standard of living in this country. However people here in poverty still have to struggle, because the cost of living here is higher. We can't just let a family starve, because they can't afford our higher cost of food, or freeze to death in the winter, because they can't afford our high housing costs. Again our poverty line is higher because our cost of living is higher, meaning certain people can not afford life's necessities.
And finally, what is your problem with statistics. Yes, many are misleading, which is why you have to take into account the source, and any biases associated.
Facts are necessary for backing up an arguement, without them your theories are completely unable to be verified. You instead work on "truth by assertion", by making a point through what my english teacher calls, "glittering generalities" (flamboyant propaghandic statements with no substance or evidence in them at all,
example:If you don't believe that, you are either brainwashed or willfully ignorant.)
I would be brainwashed or willfully ignorant if I accepted your views without question.
Who made the U.S. government the world's babysitter?
Those idiots were indoctrinated by our public education system that entitlements are every citizen's right.
We must not overlook the deleterious effect that our educational system is having on our young people. This brainwashing has been going on for decades, and with the BHO administration and this Congress, we're seeing the fruits of that brainwashing.
People in this country still die in poverty.
Yes, indeed.
And some of us are being pushed into it. Or at least the system tries to push us into it, as I discovered last year when Mr. AOW had a stroke:
At both the rehab hospital and the nursing home, both of which were in-network facilities of Mr. AOW's health-insurance plan, I was repeatedly advised to obtain Medicare and Medicaid.
This may sounds strange, but I've always said I want to die in poverty. What's the alternative, do die with a lot of money? I'd rather use my money the way I want to use it than let someone else do that. My kids have always heard that I plan to spend my last dime 10 minutes before I die.
I've decided to hijack the liberal saying "think globally, act locally". When voting, I'll do what I think is best for the globe (or nation). Less government is always better than more government. I've never seen a government program that couldn't be outdone by a private program. Etc. etc.
When acting, I'll act locally. I've been involved helping people prepare taxes, I'm planning to get involved helping people manage their daily finances. I give to my church and foreign missions. I help an aspiring dental student go do volunteer dental work.
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