Homestead mailing list

[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

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