Stop the Handouts!

As I was surfing the Internet last week, I came across this headline:

Administration to Reveal Plans for Katrina Housing Transition

You can read the entire Washington Post article here.

If you chose not to read the entire story, I want you to keep this number in mind:

45.

Do you know what that number signifies? That is the number of months since Hurricane Katrina hit.

Yes, you read that correctly, it has been 45 months since Hurricane Katrina and these people still have not found housing for themselves.

It is abundantly clear to me that Hurricane Katrina is not to blame for these people remaining on the government’s dole; rather it is their utter inability to accept responsibility and provide for themselves.

I know that these people went through a lot, but that was nearly four years ago. Let us not forget the hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars that poured into this region in the form of aid from the government and private citizens alike. Additionally, tens of thousands of other citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi have managed to secure housing and move on with their lives, why are these people incapable of doing so?

I will tell you why, it is because these people have lost their ability to fend for themselves due to the unending gravy train of free, government money that keeps chugging right up to their governmentally funded doorstep.

Why should they work hard if someone else (the government) will simply take care of them forever?

Yes, you and I see the warped logic in that statement, but that is the mindset that develops after people are constantly told that their pathetic situation it is not their fault and that they cannot possibly take care of themselves.

It is this mindset that is sapping the competitive nature of this country and ensuring that our economic recovery is years away, not months…if it ever returns at all.

That is why we have to end the policy of handouts and have people provide for themselves.

This is not exclusive to monetary handouts either.

We need to stop the intellectual and psychological handout programs of affirmative action and employment quotas. Whether it is during a search for a job or a college, we have to stop telling people that they are not strong, smart, skilled or good enough to compete on their own and therefore must rely on the government to level the playing field for them.

I cannot think of anything more condescending, degrading or insulting than these governmental programs that do absolutely nothing but decrease a person’s ability to think and provide for themselves, all the while increasing their dependence on the government.

If we do not stop this intellectual and psychological slavery that is these government programs (let’s face it, they clearly are), we will have an ever-increasing percentage of this country remain unproductive and feels entitled to have the government provide for them.

Once that happens, you can kiss the wonderful quality of life that we currently enjoy goodbye forever.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John