We, in Louisiana, supposedly live in the “greatest nation on Earth.”
Therefore, it difficult and very sad to watch the long lines of citizens in Louisiana standing in the heat to get emergency Food Stamps.
It’s not so much sad because of the heat and other inconveniences they are suffering as it is that they are in line at all.
Those in line are not the very poor, the working poor and the handicapped. Those folks automatically got their Food Stamp cards credited for extra money to help due to the damage from Hurricane Gustav.
The people I see in line are those who, prior to Gustav, were not recipients of Food Stamps. They are primarily working class people who, due to no fault of their own, aren’t able to draw their paychecks or were forced to spend their savings to evacuate. Thus, they cannot temporarily afford to take care of themselves like they did before the storm.
Some of those in line probably aren’t bothered, except for the heat. However, it must be very difficult for the proud, self-sufficient who find themselves, for the first time in their lives, putting their hands out to government.
Government at its worst
The sights I am seeing is the result of government at all levels at its worst. We working people have had to give government so much of our hard-earned dollars in the form of taxes that we are no longer financially capable of taking care of ourselves.
Our plight is not accidental. It a result of the gradual move toward Socialism that has been perpetrated upon us by our elected officials. In order to make themselves indispensable and to protect their individual power bases, the politicians have made us more and more dependent upon government.
The current sight of working class people standing in long lines asking for a hand out is a result of that plan. We find ourselves not only without hands out, but actually thanking government for putting something in our hands which the government confiscated from us.
It must be humiliating for hard-working people to find themselves begging government to give them back their own money.
Solution
There is a simple solution. Government should stop taking so much of our money and give us credit for the good sense to take care of ourselves.
Government should only do what we, as individuals, cannot do for ourselves. Also, government should only take, in the form of taxes, from the citizens what it absolutely needs to provide those services that we cannot provide ourselves.
Government in Louisiana no longer exists to serve the public. It exists for its own sake. It is the biggest spender and employer in the state.
The annual surpluses in Louisiana prove that government is taking too much of OUR money.
Just recently, we asked that the Stelly Plan tax increase be rolled-back to provide some tax relief for the middle class and others from whom the money was confiscated. Bobby Jindal said no.
When Jindal was pounded by public pressure into submission, he reluctantly agreed to the reduction, but only in two years. After more pounding, Jindal agreed to let us have the money in one year, but delayed us getting the money for two years.
Frankly, I believe that the individual working people of this state are more capable of properly managing our money than is government. Perhaps we should consider that as we see people in long lines in the hot sun waiting for government bureaucrats to give them their own money.
There’s an old saying: Give a man a fish; he will be fed for today. Teach a man to fish and you will have fed him for a lifetime.
I would paraphrase that saying to government: Let us keep our money to buy our own damn fishing poles!
C.B.
1
CB
7:15 am
