The Platform continuing

As mentioned in Part I you can read just the last paragraph for any section to get a summary or a bit of bullet points for my ideas.

SOCIAL PROGRAMS:

Give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach him to fish he eats for a lifetime.

One of the most overworked phrases or quotes, yet very applicable to how we administer our welfare programs.

As mentioned in the Debt and Deficit section government programs should be effective. They should solve the problem. If it doesn’t it should be changed. We must have improvement to justify the use of tax dollars. The tax payer has the right to expect elected officials use their money wisely and effectively.

Unfortunately the welfare program or what was originally called war on poverty or the Great Society has failed its original intent. True it had a noble purpose to eliminate poverty, but the actual results we see two generations later is dismal. Some think not, for example one person recently wrote that even though there are more people in poverty it is less of a percentage. How accurate that fact is, I don’t know, but numbers are not the only justification for saying we are eradicating poverty. And so many factors are different from the sixties that I am not sure we are comparing apples to apples with the numbers. The main key should be though are we removing people from poverty not because we have fed them, but because they are becoming more self-reliant. What we created is multi-generational reliance on government help that does not move the individual forward. The blame though falls on us, not the people in poverty as some political groups want their constituents or you to believe.
We must do something. We want to have a free market system that believes in self-reliance and that people should have the opportunity to be successful then we cannot ignore poverty. Our founding Fathers gave us the freedoms and rights to all of us. And we should cherish these rights. This means we cannot let people of our society be held back due to circumstances beyond their control. We celebrate success, but that does not mean only the winners can perpetually hold their place in society. (And I am going to discuss more about what this means when I discuss lobbying) Our constitution gives us the right to grow and when the current people in power cut off opportunity they are denying to others their basic rights. This has been done by both the Democrats and Republicans. The Democrats are hurting the people they say they are trying to help by not improving their programs, by letting the continued reliance of government handouts go on. The Republicans by not offering anything better and by saying since we aren’t helping them we shouldn’t support any programs or cut what we have to save taxpayers’ dollars, are also failing our country. It plays well to their constituents, but does not solve the problem. Yes actually attacking poverty, not by trying to artificially support people and saying that eliminates poverty, is our responsibility.

We need new programs to replace what we are doing now. First of all to actually help people grow, and second to help reduce the deficit and debt. If we can move people forward they get off assistance and cost us less in the long run. Thirdly there is a cost to society with poverty that is not included in the assistance programs. You have blighted neighborhoods, loss of business opportunities and markets, loss of potential tax revenue at the federal and local level, and there is a human cost. People that have respect for themselves treat others with respect. It is harder for people downtrodden to find this self-respect. Part of the new programs need to include more than just a simple job. It needs to include education at two levels. Of course there is job training and traditional math, science, history etc., but since we have let this government assistance go on for generations we need to help them with family education, community development, and involvement in a positive way with society. Many people in our government do not see the growth of secondary power structures in the neighborhoods overrun by poverty. This is going to cost us greatly in the future if we do not curtail this and give the young people real opportunity to strive for. This is definitely a situation that if we want to save money in the long run we need to spend money now. It does not mean we need to increase what we are spending just change its direction.

First we need to make employment training a major priority in our programs. And it is okay that this training be based on what is needed in the current job market place. Over the last few years we have spent a fortune on unemployment benefits and we are stuck in a political argument about continuing these benefits. Yes people need help, but there are many industries struggling to find qualified people to hire. It should have been mandatory that all recipients go through training to match employers’ needs. A person can still look for a job or career in the industries they desire, but until they find a job they need to be prepared to make sacrifices and be ready to take jobs where they are available. And unemployment benefits will include help in finding jobs in the industries where they are being trained. Once trained, they would need to acquire work in their new field. Are we taking away anyone’s rights with this requirement? No. Are we inhibiting their growth with this requirement? No. Are we hurting employers with this? No, because they still interview and hire who they want from these newly trained individuals. And the trainees do get some choices. There are many different fields that need people. They can look at what they want to do and match up closely to their field in hope of finding something new as they transition. They do not get to receive benefits without some responsibility to society to move forward. This training and job requirement can be applicable to unemployment benefits, welfare, and food stamps. Some people will say you can’t force people to do something they don’t want to do. There is the opposite and that is many people that have a desire to be on their own and understand what is needed will be glad for these opportunities. There are others who say that some people won’t care, that they won’t try, and we shouldn’t make the effort. And unfortunately there is some validity to this thought. This is where the second part of training is needed.

Many people have received government assistance for so long or grew up with it they do not know anything different. Is it their fault they know no other way of life? Not necessarily, all of society has a hand in this situation. We need to rectify it with better programs. This means how we treat lifelong assistance recipients needs to take a 180 degree turn. This will not be easy either, yet it must be done. Attitudes will need to be changed in the community and with the people who work in social welfare. There is going to be new training for the receivers and the givers. As previously mentioned it will need to include family education, parent education, health education, participation in redeveloping the neighborhoods they live in, and requirements for meeting goals to become self sufficient.
As an example of the new requirements and training let’s look at food stamps. Currently people receive food stamps with no nutritional training to go along with it. This should be required. Many people will complain they see obese people receiving food stamps so they think these people aren’t hungry and shouldn’t be receiving them. The real problem is food stamp recipients buy what is cheap which is processed foods which have no nutritional value so they are overweight not because of overeating, but eating too much of the wrong food. Also there should be a limit to what can be bought with food stamps. If we, as a society, give them help there is nothing wrong with it being effective help. And that means food stamps should benefit them, not by giving them food, but food that nourishes them. Yes it is fun to eat frozen pizzas and candy, but society doesn’t have to supply these items, nor should it. This is one example of the mindset change we need to make. We can help, it just has to be the right help. Better nutrition helps all. And with this type of change the secondary benefits reduce the cost to society. Children who eat nutritionally are generally healthier. This means less cost to the welfare programs such as Medicaid.

Social programs are a great idea, but only if they achieve the goal stated in the program. Our current welfare and unemployment benefits are a cost to us that does not help the recipients. Our society needs to rethink our programs, invest in productive programs such as job retraining as a requirement to receiving benefits, invest in new forms of education to help long term recipients make the transition to self-reliance, by making effective change in one area it can also create savings in other areas, and society as a whole has to take responsibility for the mistakes of the past. Our current political processes actually prevent recipients from moving forward and have cost society and the recipients more in the long run than the little good done in the short run for an individual. Once we move people off welfare, we see multiple benefits to society from reduction in government spending to more positive contributors to our communities and our society. This won’t be easy, but to prevent more problems in the future we need to make the effort now. And with better public education (which will be discussed in greater detail later) the children affected by the current system will have a greater chance to succeed and be less reliant on help going forward.

LOBBYING:

One man, one vote.

Oh and one woman, one vote.

All in all our Republic allows us to guide our government and its policies by electing people to represent us. This is one of the greatest aspects of our government, if only it actually applied in practice.

We, the citizenry, have failed our constitution, not by what we do, but what we do not do.

And greatness still exists if we make the effort. This means we need to vote with our mind, make the effort to learn about our potential elected officials, and understand the issues that face our country. Otherwise others will do this for us, or better said for themselves.

And that is the norm nowadays. Special interests do more for themselves daily than most of us can imagine. Sure some people will rant and rail we should outlaw lobbying so special interests cannot get their way. This will not work.

Special interests will win any court battle that has any inkling of their right to free speech being taken away. And they probably should win.

The goal is twofold. One, the electorate needs to be more involved. It is our responsibility to elect our officials, if we elect representatives that know their job is dependent on how we judge them, then their votes on many issues will reflect that attitude. If we hold them accountable to what they say on the campaign trail once they get to office, then we will have a government responsive to the general public’s need and overall health of the country. The entire constitutional way of government is dependent on an electorate that is educated and involved.

Second, we can address how the special interests do business on Capitol Hill. We cannot take away anyone’s fundamental right to petition our government for a redress of grievances etc and yes this includes special interests. We can write rules and legislation that controls their unfettered access to our Congressmen and women. There is nothing in the constitution that guarantees anyone more rights than what is accorded any other person. The practical answer then is to make all business from special interests only allowable in open Congressional session or more specifically committee hearings.

Allowing access to Congress through public hearings gives them the right to make their presentations and appeals, but does not give them undue influence on legislation or legislators. We, the public, can hear their views and respond to our Representatives accordingly. They would not be allowed to entertain privately at all. Visits in Congressional offices need transcriptions. This gives the public and even other special interests full knowledge of what is discussed. This allows people to rebut or support positions. This is a start and reasonable to maintain the integrity of our constitution and our government.

We cannot let our constitution be overrun by people who want to hold onto power. If we truly believe we all have equal opportunity then we cannot let special interests and the elite dictate policy. I believe in the free market system, however, the winners of the game cannot make the rules or they will make the rules to keep themselves the winners. Legislation can be enacted to equal the playing field by giving no one or group more access to our representatives than others. If we do not we will end up with the people with the most money overriding all others to completely eliminate competition to their wants or power wishes.

Or as I like to say, long live the constitution, the constitution is dying. Let's get her off life support folks.



To be continued