Rock and a hard place.. Rights & Freedom

As luck would have it, I am actually sick and at home resting for the day where the new health care bill will be signed into law.  The irony is overwhelming.  I am torn on this one in so many ways.  I am pleased to see a society trying to do good for its people, but I am ashamed of our methods and the outcome.  I don't believe that society can fix itself.  I believe that we must individually choose to help one another from the bottom up.  This great society can not be legislated top down. We do need healthcare reform, but right now, that is not what is killing the patient.  The out of control spending is #1 on the triage list as I score it and it began with the spending habits and entitlements expectations of each of us.. individually... 

The United States of America is spending its way into oblivion.. and that's a fact jack.  I know because I did it too. I overspent, relied on credit(money that I didn't have), and hope for a future that was unlikely to ever materialize.  I was only able to go to college due to a collosal debt load and the charity and benevolence of several wonderful patrons of the arts.  My family has paid a steep price for all of that debt, and I am only coming out of the woods now after years of hard work, and discipline.  Through all of those years, I have made it a core tenet of my existence to give back to those around me and I always will.  As a citizen that is my right. It can not and should not be forced upon me by an out of control gov't bureaucracy. That just doesn't feel right.  

The concept of "out of the woods" only means that I like everyone else is back on an even playing field. I have to earn the right to have things. I might hope for charity and sacrifice from others but I can never, ever, plan for it or expect it.  I recognize the hard place that we are all in because I have seen it.  The difference in my mind is that I never expected others to fix it for me. I never expected to take from others to raise myself up. I was indeed blessed and continue to be blessed by the charity of others and I am thankful, but something is perverted in my analysis if that charity comes from the gov't.

That is the crux of my problem with our current plans.  The media calls it "redistribution".. I call it a culture of handouts and entitlements.  I too am appalled at the costs of healthcare and the families who are forced into bankruptcy because of the "system". I believe in helping others, in a society where we choose to help one another, and where we have freedoms to do so..  I fear that we are not getting that.

FDR wasn't wrong when he proposed his Economic Bill of Rights. Those principles are sound..but they must be earned by individuals, not granted by a gov't which simply does not have that power to grant.  The role of our government should be to protect, not provide.  Thus we enter this nexus between a rock and a hard place. A country divides itself fighting about differences as we always have.. instead of seeking agreement.

I cannot grant to you a right which I do not have the right to grant.  That is the fact here. The gov't can't grant the people a job, or healthcare because it simply cannot afford it.  Only people can choose to sacrifice for others, granting them a "right" to their earnings.  The government can't do it, the church can't do it...  We have been trying this for years, upon years, upon years, and all we know is that it does not work. In the end, the solution is not law and mandate, but choice and freedom coupled with love and charity.


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Second Bill of Rights (FDR's Economic bill of rights)

• The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
• The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
• The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
• The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
• The right of every family to a decent home;
• The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
• The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
• The right to a good education.