Well, my cousin was visiting me today, and shockingly, though we both are on different ends of the political spectrum, we agreed about many things!!!!! The fact that greed, for example, is killing the country. The idea that even taxes could be fair if people wanted them to be. We spoke of the difference between the doers and the nondoers. We agreed that some people who are on unemployment take a break until their money runs out and then look for a job. But some people hate being unemployed and take any job to get going again. We remembered that my grandmother refused to take handouts during the depression, because she felt there were people who needed the money more than she did. She grew vegetables and sold them, she took in boarders, she made ends meet because she had the intention of doing so.
After we discussed the "old days" we decided that if we were king of the world we would change a few things. Or at least I did :)
My first change would be a flat tax rate for everyone. No deductions, no loopholes, no nothing. Let's say 10% for all, which is more than fair. So people making 10,000 dollars a year would pay $1000 a year in taxes and people making 1,000,000,000 dollars would pay 10,000,000 a year. Seems fair. NO deductions for kids, NO deduction for health care, NO deductions for losses, NO deductions for education. NO deductions period. Sound harsh? Not when you consider that if everyone pays their fair share, then the social "entitlements" like health care, education, social security, head-start programs, school lunches, etc, would be fully funded! There would plenty of money to pay for everything we need from the government, and we wouldn't have to fight over which state would get the pork. And for the common good maybe people could afford to take a vacation for longer than a week once in a while! Who loses here? Oh yeah, the fat cats would have to pay their fair share and maybe the gestapo-like IRS would be put out of business. Because if people couldn't lie on tax forms, what would we need them for???
In one of my former posts I spoke about "intent". I likened making education better by putting as much energy into it as we put into little league. I think the idea of intent works for solving social problems as well. If we intend to do right for the people, then we will. If politicians started caring more for their constituents than lining their pockets, things would be grand for all. If they intended to clean up the mess the country is in, they would. I intend to cut my grass when it starts growing, and then i actually do it, or else the grass just continues to grow unabated.
This brings me to the crux of this message. What started me thinking about welfare was an argument I had with my dad at the dinner table some 40 odd years ago. We were at Uncle Al's house and during the antiposte, I mentioned that I thought we weren't doing enough to help the poor in the inner cities. I spoke with a young person's conviction and righteousness and stated flat out that we should all be adding to the $$$$ needed by these poor people, My father argued that just giving people money ie: welfare, was the rich man's way of keeping the poor down and "in line". I, of course, vehemently argued this, and felt my father was being blind to social justice.
Now, many years later, I understand his point. It seem that no one intends to solve the problems of the inner cities. I think my dad was right, we do keep people down by giving them money for nothing. I recall that maybe 15-20 years or so ago, the mayor of Bordentown tried to change this money for nothing idea by instituting a "work for pay" program for the people who were on the town's welfare lists. Somehow it turned into a court battle and the city subsequently lost and the idea was dropped. I never understood why? Who was being hurt by giving poor people jobs?
I have spent much time here blogging my complaints about the greediness of the rich, but maybe by making all people repsonsible, the poor as well as the rich, we can improve the common good. Right now, it seems to only be the middle class that bears the full burden.
Why can't we find jobs for people in the ciities who cannot find one on their own? I could name plenty of ways people could help out in my town . Along with supplying jobs might we also be giving these people a feeling of self worth and accomplishment? Might we also be teaching them a marketable skill? Might we be showing them a way to rise above their circumstances and take back their streets from drug kings? Might they then start to acquire the ability to improve their own situations and produce a better life for themselves and their children? Obviously I think we might. And if we care enough about people in the poor areas of our cities, might we also be improving our own lives and those of the common good?
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