The incremental slide

The debate in Congress over the 'Health Care' bill has forced me to look at all that is and has happened in this country during my brief life. Looking at the debate and contrasting that to other differences in our society I think I have come to the simple conclusion that both sides of the aisle are more focused on incrementalism towards a goal they disagree with than the subject at hand.

On the political right, conservatives fear more than anything else that Socialism is the targeted direction and health care is just the next big hurdle. They may be right and looking back at the incremental steps made towards that end can be seen through the action of their opponents. Name a single thing that you do on a day to day basis that is not directly controlled, taxed or manipulated by the government ....

On the left, giving in on any portion of the debate will lead to safe ground where the opposition can build (or take away) from something they hold dear. Example: Covering abortion under the massive health care overhaul. Any argument about federal spending for this by the right is immediately responded to by stating that we can't interfere with a women's right to choose. After all, giving in on this topic might just lead to an overturn of Roe v. Wade.

The arguments around a single payer system are vast. The one that I continue to be amazed by is where the folks on the left are 'for the little people' and that we need to deliver services to those that can't afford to pay for themselves. I am a BIG proponent of helping out, donating time and money, looking out for those less fortunate and insuring that nothing stands in the way of someone living up to their own potential. However, the argument of taking more and more from one class of people to a different class of people with the threat of prosecution is not looking out for anyone. Plain and simple it is extortion and theft. Even if 100% of the additional money collected went directly to those less fortunate - doing so through threat of prosecution is a direct attack on the liberties of another.
On the other side of the argument.... we have some in our society who forget or fail to acknowledge that their good fortune comes by the grace of God. That their good fortune has been given to them for a reason and that we are all just here temporarily. Yes, hard work and commitment are the tools that many of them used to gather their wealth but they were given the opportunity by a power higher than themselves.

While this post is not nearly complete - I want to close with a small example of how much trouble the current direction by our government is causing us. Consider the data last reported (2008) shows that we have roughly 19.7 million government employees in the United States. This includes state and local along with military and federal. While they don't all make the > $100,000 that was recently reported .... if we estimate that each employee makes $70,000 (unburdened costs) a year. I am using simple math for estimating and the numbers could be much more extreme if we dig in to it in more detail. How many non-government employees does it take to pay their salaries? If the non-government employee made the same $70,000 and were taxed at 15% and the entirety of that tax went to pay direct salary payments to the government employee ..... it would take 131,500,000 citizens just to pay the salaries.

For those that claim the government pays the employees not Joe Public. Please remember that the government doesn't have anything. The government does make anything. The government does truly sell anything. When the government prints more money the only thing that changes is the volume of money. This in turn has the adverse affect making the money in your pocket worth less.

Back to the example - what happens if 10% of the public were to lose their jobs? In an effort to jumpstart the economy the government creates new jobs - but they are government jobs, what happens to the model. In order to pay for government employees taxes are raised to 16.7% and the government can then hire an additional 39,450 employees. All this while 13.15 million of the previous 131.5 million workers are now out of work. THIS MODEL SIMPLY DOES NOT WORK! Remember this when the Census workers are on the payroll and we are told that unemployment just dropped dramatically.

When the government takes and takes and demands more and more from its citizens it no longer works for the people. Instead the people are working for the government. Abraham Lincoln closed the Gettysburg address with "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. " Let us not forget those words and do the right thing for God, country and each other.