Old Hippie

I love this quote! It sums up so eloquently and succinctly the fact that our government is not a social one. Of course, a government can be many things to many people but our form of government, pioneered by some very forward-looking, intelligent people was never intended to be all things to all people. Government's power was intentionally created to be a limited power and all permission for government functions were granted by the people forming the government. Permission does not come from the government but rather it is granted to the government by us. There is a very basic difference in that concept. It means the people are in control not the governing body.

Now charity is a wonderful thing. It makes the giver feel good even as it helps the receiver. It's a win-win situation. It should be practiced regularly. From my point of view, a charitable act creates "good karma" for the giver and I am a firm believer in the old adage that "What goes around comes around". Or "Ye shall reap that which ye sew". I think the Beatles said it best, perhaps, with "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make". Practice good deeds and you will likely receive good deeds in return. Practice selfish deeds and you will likely be repaid with bad events.

However you look at it, charity is a noble act and the highest form of charity is to be charitable to someone without the recipient even knowing who you are. No thanks can be given because the receiver does not know who gave. You are simply generous because you want to be generous. It is an easy act and anyone in the country can practice it and build up their good karma.

When charity goes wrong is when the government gets involved. Our government has very good intentions in trying to help people create a sort of financial safety net for their retirement years or for tough employment times or for severe medical problems. But "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". It is very easy to be generous with someone else's money. And someone else's money is the only money that government has. Government's income comes from its' citizen's income in the many forms of taxes.

Remember the story of Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest. Often times I hear someone, typically a liberal, say that Robin Hood stole from the rich to give to the poor. They hold him up as a model for our government. They urge our government to take more from the evil rich and give it to the poor poor. They got it totally wrong. Robin Hood did not steal from the rich. He stole from the government. More precisely, he stole from the tax collector. He stole from the tax collector to give to the poor because the taxes were too odious for the common person to bear. The rich are not the evil in this story, the government is the evil. This is usually the case.

Now if the government found a way to perhaps invest some of its' fortunes and actually create income on its' own, then I would have no problem with that money being used to fund charitable acts, to help people out of bad situations. But it doesn't work this way. The purpose of government is to provide a level playing field of sorts; to provide for defense of our nation at home and our interests around the world, to protect our borders and to maintain a justice system with equal protection for all citizens. There is nothing in our Constitution that says anything at all about helping people who need help for whatever reason. That is a function that is best kept for churches and other charitable organizations.

Why have we forgotten this basic concept? What makes Americans today think it is the government's responsibility to keep us fed, to give us cheap gas prices, to provide for our retirement, to pay for our college education, to aid farmers, to fund the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to pay for our medical expenses, to fund stem cell research, to stop the spread of AIDS in Africa, to give a home-owner's land to WalMart to build a store to generate higher tax revenues for the community? Why are we expecting so much from government when government gets all its' power from the people? Senseless.

There seems to be a mind set in today's world that there is a limited amount of wealth in the world and that the rich have too much of it. They seem to think the solution to the inequitable distribution of weath is to redistribute it, taking from the rich and giving to the poor. This should theoretically even things up, right? No Way!

Wealth is created every day all over the world. There is an unlimited amount of weath potential in the world. There is not a finite amount that needs to be divvied up among us, we can simply create more wealth at any time. Have a good idea, turn it into a capitalistic endeavor and let others benefit from your invention while you generate wealth for yourself and for other involved in the venture. We never need to divide up the wealth, it is too easy to create more.

Years ago the countries in Europe decided to go the socialistic route. Shorter work weeks, universal health care, lots of vacation time and time off for family, government benefits from cradle to grave. I say let them do it if that's what they desire from their government. We have started down this road in our country as well but from the United States government, we should expect much less. Less intrusion, less taxes, less control over our everyday lives, less red tape, less laws and less interference. Leave us alone. Get out of the way and watch us shine.

I believe our country became great because of its' people. I do not believe for a second that our people become great because of our government. EVER. If you want to be a giving person great! Wonderful! Do it! Everyone who can give should give. It feels good to help someone and I highly recommend it. Just don't get that "all holier than thou" attitude and enlist the government to do your giving for you. That just isn't the same thing. And it never will be.

Happy Monday.
OH