We are a caring nation, yes?

Our private citizens and companies give generously to many charities. We love to help.

Our communities reach out to help those in need. At least they used to. That help now comes quite often from outside of the community and is funded by those who do not know Mrs. Jones around the corner or Mr. Jensen down the road a piece.

When I was growing up the folks who needed help in some way, shape, or form got it first and foremost from the family, many of whom were still nearby if not right in the home itself. Those that had, gave; those that could, helped; those with blood ties, cared and helped and gave. It was a beautiful system that complemented the role of the limited, local government. The only time you dealt with the bigger guys was during elections, at tax time, and perhaps with a visit to the DMV.

Sometimes we had older folks who had no children nearby any longer or perhaps had lost their only son to the war or some other calamity. They had lived there forever and everyone knew them.   And whether they were liked or not, when they needed help they could turn to the church and the groups sponsored by the church or some other caring and giving organization.

There always seemed to be someone or some group or some institution that could and did help out when the family could not or, less likely, did not. It was a beautiful system.

And what did they help with? Family counseling, family planning, hospice, food, home maintenance, rides to and from the store or church, recovery from an accident or illness, watching young children for an hour or two before or after school, maybe with some mentoring for kids in trouble… The problems that received local help and the ways in which the help was given were innumerable. Family and neighbors and parishioners loved to help. Even if it didn’t directly get your soul into heaven it sure as hell nudged your heart and mind into a better place.

You just did and gave what you could. Communities helped and since they were already organized there was no need for that.

Activism was not required to elicit results and aid to those truly in need.

No organization, no activism, just good old fashion giving-a-damn and doing something to help. Anything.

A beautiful system once upon an older time.

Now, neighbors do not often know each other, at least not very well, and much less local help is requested or given. Families are scattered about the country and are unable to provide any assistance. So help is provided from afar. A simple and a new system.

But what is provided is provided from those who have no choice and have no ties to those who receive. That used to be okay, for example, when we used to give (freely!) to organizations that provided, say, medical aid to poor countries around the world. We kind of knew where our bucks were headed. Nowadays we do not have that freedom of choice and we have no direct connection to those who we are purported to be helping.  Nowadays we just provide the money and resources to the middle man. And after they take their cut then some of what is left may find its way to some who need it.

Or maybe not.

What do we support with this tithe to the middle man?

Oh let’s see some. Free phones. Endless compensation for those who can work but choose not to do so. Endless compensation for those who have kids they cannot afford to have and then have more. Free food for those who look like they have not missed too many meals. Free contraceptives. Services that no one really even needs but take nonetheless. Housing for those who do not even live here and have entered outside the law. Reduced or free transportation. Free college for those who will never do anything with it. Grants to universities for doing research that has no purpose and no direction other than to perpetuate such similar largesse. Subsidies for utilities to those who should be providing that themselves. Cheap or even free abortions. Subsidies to huge corporations who are in political favor (and then enter into political control).   I tire of even thinking on this endless list. And it is endless but still grows. One more though- healthcare.

I mean, why not?

So what would be a good plan?

How about this. You take what used to be- the family, the church, the close-knit, long-term community and you abolish it, demean it, erase it, degrade it, destroy it, eliminate it completely.

But wait, aren’t the same things that the individual really (and I mean really) needs still needed?

Why yes they are. And there is just the right and convenient solution- the government can provide.

And if the simple staples and needs of life are not enough then provide some more. Provide so much that the person receiving has no desire to change things and has every fear that it will be taken away.

What was a hand up, a limited offer so that you can help yourself to get back to where you should be, to where you want to be because of how you grew up, because of what you were taught all along, has now become a hand out. Free, free, and more free. That is the new freedom in our country.

Well, not quite completely free. While receiving with your right hand you simply give with your left. A simple vote is all it takes. Vote for and you get to keep; vote against or not at all then you will lose all that you have been trained to expect, all that keeps you alive and well all that your ever-growing government has given to you. Don’t even think of leaving the plantation.

What a plan.

Oh, and just to make sure the leverage is complete, just take control of healthcare. Nothing more controlling than that next to air and food I suppose.

And certainly none of that could ever, would ever, be taken away.

Right?

Only if they decide to do it. When they have grown so large and so controlling that they no longer need your vote. The family, the church, the local community cared from the heart. Does your government do the same?

Later on they may decide who will be born, perhaps even the genetics of those allowed to be born.

For now they are content in moving swiftly to decide how you will live.

And, oh yeah, who will die.