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  • From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Destruction of America from within
  • Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:23:18 -0400



Gene GeRue wrote:
On Oct 8, 2008, at 12:08 PM, EarthNSky wrote:

Call me whatever, but I think it is time for the bailouts to stop. I
think it is time that we stopped trying to help everyone under the sun
and make them responsible for themselves. We should not be paying for
people to rebuild on Bolivar and other places that are low lying barrier
islands.

I agree in principle <snip>> I am against bailouts. I am against charity beyond short-term emergencies--to turn my back on people in desperate needs would make me feel inhumane. But I am in favor of what makes us stronger as a society. For instance I am in favor of national cradle-to-grave health care because a healthier population is a more efficient and more productive population. And it feels right to me.
Your Revolutionary is all about doing more for the people of the world
as well as Americans.

Yeah, quite a reversal of present policy.

We will make people more dependent on government
with his programs; We will find more people turning to bite the hand
that feeds them.

Now, Bev, you know that doesn't fly here. Examples from history and his proposed programs, please.

From his programs? No can do..he doesn't have any experience with that, just ideas on paper. An example from history is the domestic welfare program. Almost every program that gives money to individuals could be used as an example, even Medicaid and Medicare...programs become complex and ripe with fraud and waste to the point that they no longer serve the purpose they were designed for-a well intentioned idea that has paved that famous road to Hell, leaving a shell of a plan that only the poorest and most desperate HAVE to use, because there is no other choice. In that way, they become dependent on a Federal program.
The more money we hand out, the more dependent on that money people become, whether it is a economic stimulus check, a farm subsidy, or even a tax free holiday. I know people who will do without waiting for those, because they cannot afford things any other way. They are too dependent on the benevolent actions of the government.
As for biting the hand, well, domestically, you have people in New Orleans still demanding help years after the fact. What I was thinking when I wrote that was more to the issue of foreign aid, however. How much money do we give to countries that hate us and vote against us in the UN in a tight vote? Our 'friends' very often aren't our friends. They have every right to vote or support what they choose, but so be it, if that is the case, we stop scratching their backs, too.





We just need to stop. I don't know how, but we need
to stop intervening in both countries and lives of Americans and allow
people, the individual to make it or break it on their own, just as our
homesteading ancestors did.

It is a different world now. All is connected. Isolationism leads downward. Integration leads upward. Look at China.



I know isolationism is a bad thing long term, and I did consider China because I almost used it as an example. The thing is, that China has survived relatively intact for thousands of years...a real legacy..and who are we to say that they are better off now that they have industrialized and come out of the closet, so to speak?
I think integration(I am not talking about racial integration, but world trade and integrative activity like sharing the internet) leads upward only from certain starting points, and that there is a limit as to where the benefits on integration end. We can become so worldly in our thoughts and interests that we forget to take care of our immediate business of surviving day to day.
For example, I see people on cell phones all the time. Kid is upstairs, Mom is downstairs, and instead of her calling him or going to get him, to check on him, she rings his cell...instead of her making use of her neighborhood CSA, she is driving 20 miles to the import grocer buying veggies grown in Thailand because that is the trendy thing to do. Dad is having a fantasy internet affair instead of providing guidance and teaching manners to his pre-teen son who is starting to hang out with bad influences. On a larger scale, we learn about and point fingers at other countries activities instead of minding our own business at home. If we turned back the clock 50 years, would we even know or care about Darfur or Bosnia or Georgia? It is a different, connected world, and not that knowledge and connectivity is a bad thing, but we may have surpassed it's benefit and usefulness. Video games are great, but when we play them to forsake all other life activities, it is an addiction as damaging as alcohol. That is all I am saying, is that sometimes we need to pull back and reground ourselves. Disconnect from the rest of the world. Declare a temporary 5 year suspension on certain foreign aid.
I wish I could better express my thoughts.

Bev

--
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" Ronald Reagan




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