A Nation of Generous Citizens

I would say we are a nation of generous individuals by any account, and we have all seen a read much information attesting to our generosity.

It is only natural, then, it seems to me, that when we see or hear of a need we want to help.  I don't want homeless people to starve or freeze to death, do you?  Nor do I want innocent children to suffer from illness that can be easily prevented with proper care and attention. And would anybody seriously suggest that institutionalizing our mentally disabled like criminal inmates, or worse yet euthanize them is a good idea?  NO, I don't think so, do you, really?

We don't do any of those horrible things for the most part in our country.

We have decided, collectively, that this is NOT how we want our country to be.  Good for us. We have elected public officials who have made law and policy to support our common majority point of view.  And these folks have dutifully followed our wishes.

To be fair, there is another position.  A position that opposes what would seem a majority of us wish.   And these other folks have also elected representatives to champion their point of view.

Now, here comes the rub ............. wait for it .................. wait .............. wait ............... how are we gonna pay for the mandates from BOTH SIDES????

Isn't this where all of the arguments eventually end up?  Whose gonna pay, and how?

Look, I'll take the responsibility for the mess we're in today, me and my generation (the "baby boomers").  We were the "flower power" generation etc. and we're the ones who wanted and voted in the legislators who created the "Great Society" and so forth.  And it's true, it's a terrible, horrible, and very expensive knot we've created and now have to try and untie.  And like eating an elephant, it has to be done one bite at a time.  That's how we created the thing in the first place.

We just have to be careful going forward that we think through the issues we're passionate about and insure that we have the money to pay for them, that's all.  And we can't rely on promises to make cuts elsewhere to pay for them we have to insist on the money up front.

Look, take social security as an example.  It's not broke because we didn't pay into it.  Hell, we've been paying social security tax for decades.  It's gonna be broke because we loaned the money out to our government, ourselves. OK, that's an over simplification, I know, but you get the idea.

So, just be aware, as we go through this election cycle that anybody who suggests some sweeping change, like being able to eat the elephant in one bite, is just full of elephant dung.

We have to pay for our generosity at some point.