To Give Cheerfully

A week ago U.S. citizens received a bill for goods in the name of health care reform. I am disheartened and overwhelmed as I try to untangle this new mess of government bureaucracy.
I am a firm believer that individuals, as good citizens, should defend the less fortunate in our society. I also believe true giving is greatly watered down when it is a forced mandate coming from one of the most inefficient organizations around.

I challenge anyone who looks to government to solve the ills of society to look into their own hearts and bank accounts. How much are we as individuals willing to give freely without an IRS agent holding our income hostage? Filtering the money through a group of power hungry elites, no matter what party, is a most irresponsible way to see positive change.

As a believer in Jesus and part of the church I know we have failed miserably to reach the needs of the downtrodden. I have seen church budgets with a greater allowance to the electric bill powering their mammoth building as opposed to meeting people's everyday needs. I have taken stock in my own life. In my human nature of self preservation, have I given all I really could?

Let this be a wake up call to our hearts and minds. Should those who will give or take bribes rule the fate of our most needy? Could the taxes that will soon be levied against us do more good if we were to simply give cheerfully without involving the middle man?

Don't Tread On Me!

I have watched in utter amazement and disapproval over the past few months. We stand on the threshold of congress passing the largest piece of pork in my lifetime under the guise of stimulus. We are no doubt in a mess. My views are not stricly partisian. I was irate when President Bush suggested we bail out failing business with my taxpayer dollars, and I am am equally angry that President Obama sees the need to saddle my children and grandchildren with a deficit that is ballooning out of control. People will argue government oversight is necessary when business and wall street become too greedy. What is necessary is for you and I to become angry enough that we do not allow our own greed to enslave us to lenders. This mess was caused by educated, greedy people making poor decisions as well as uneducated, greedy people making poor decisions. No one is free from fault. We spent ourselves into an oblivion to get here, and the answer is not to spend ourselves into a deficit on a national level. Perhaps we need the pain of this recession to truly ingrain in us the importance of living within our means. We will learn this lesson when we are okay with driving a car that may not impress the Joneses, but it is paid for. We will learn this lesson when we can pass on the house until we have an adequate downpayment. We will learn this lesson when we are putting more money into our savings accounts and less toward interest. Do you want to punish the greed of wall street? Stop signing away your life to them with every visa application that arrives in your mailbox.

Our government has the worst track record of responsibility with money, and we want them to oversee our commerce? Don't get me started on healthcare. My husband worked in the medical billing industry for several years. Do you know why your medical bills are so high? Medical care professionals have the hardest time collecting on medicare and medicaid accounts. The government will find any excuse to not pay on these accounts. In return our doctors are forced to raise the cost to rectify this imbalance. Maybe if the governement would just pay their bills we could all afford a little more.

The sprial that we find ourselves in will not be satiated by more pork. The cure can only be found in time and our own willingness to look in the mirror and recognize the problem and take some responsibility. American ingenuity is not dead, but it is not fostered in the confines of the governments pocket. As we take the long road ahead all I have to say is, don't tread on me!