We are watching a building burn. Six firemen stand holding a net three stories below - a terrified woman standing on a ledge looking down. She will leap into the safety net.
Picture our country with its safety nets. We are a generous and caring nation where charities help the destitute. Privately funded charities and churches have cared for the needy for at least two centuries. In the early 20th century, the U.S. instituted government programs to provide a social safety net to provide public assistance to those in need for a limited period of time. For people with debilitating illness or birth defects, assistance was extended. This is our safety net.
Now we find ourselves facing a situation without the net. There are two things collapsing the safety net: (1) there no longer are enough firemen to hold the net; (2) there are too many people jumping into a net made for far less weight and stress. We are putting an elephant in a net as frail as a spider web.
The social net has expanded to include addicts and people with minor injuries. A temporary safety net has become a permanent holding tank for people who don’t have the will to climb out. Unmarried women birthing fatherless children abuse the system in a continuing spiral of dependency. Power-hungry politicians benefit from dependency voters. The net is full of holes created by eliminated work and accountability requirements.
Currently we have millions more unemployed and underemployed people who don’t support the net with taxes. We have added thousands of costly unionized government employees, exceeding in numbers those in a decreasing private sector.
Add to the above the debt of $17 trillion of which billions are sent to nations that do not respect the U.S and continue to vote against us in the UN. Add Obamacare and illegal immigration amnesty and the net dissolves.
It doesn’t have to be that way. If voters awaken and learn that a Euro-socialist society will not work in America. We must create a business-friendly environment, lift the burden of unnecessary regulations, encourage private investment and produce jobs. We must stop rampant fraud and initiate tougher standards for receiving welfare, stop rampant federal spending and relearn that charity begins at home. We can repair the net.
Miguel A. Pirez-Fabar
Georgetown
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