Lend A Hand

I tend to avoid the celebrity gossip stories. I don’t read people and I don’t watch TMZ. I have less than no concern about Brad and Angelina’s twins or Tom Cruise’s latest appearance on Oprah.

While I will occasionally watch soap operas, I watch them for the laugh factor. The ridiculousness of the plots are hilarious.

I do watch CNN and the morning news shows. I read news on the Internet and in newspapers. Unfortunately now that I am more interested and involved in political news I see a frightening similarity to the soaps, nighttime dramas, and celeb gossip that I find so distasteful.

My interest in politicians is limited mostly to their positions on the issues that are important to me and their character in general. While I don’t find it acceptable if a politician does something illegal or immoral, I do not think every little move they make and every move everyone they associate with makes should be put under a microscope.

We all have black sheep in the family, we all have dopey friends that we’re embarrassed by, we all have people in our lives who we highly respect but who we disagree with on a major issue. This should not reflect on our ability to hold a political office.

And once you have made a big deal out of someone’s petty flaws, like Clinton did with Obama, how do you then go back and give support without seeming like a hypocrite? Hillary did most of McCain’s work for him. The fact that McCain gained his party’s support so much sooner than the Democratic nominee is going to be a major advantage for him.

Remember the cop from that old television show that would say “Just the facts, Ma’am”…well

“Just the issues, Please”

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When I talk about government handouts I’m not just talking about the “stimulus payments” most taxpayers received earlier this year. I’m talking about tax refunds, credits, welfare, social security, health care and anything I may be forgetting to include in this list. We have so many people getting a little bit from the government that I’m not surprised that corruption, crime, disorganization and mismanagement run amok throughout each individual system.

A little bit of U.S. History and then a little bit of personal history followed by a personal opinion based on facts.

During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed a collection of policies, The New Deal, that began a bunch of program intended to help the people who had been hardest struck by the Depression, stimulate the economy, and put safeties into place to prevent future depressions. These programs began, in large part, the beginning of deficit spending and the government taking responsibility for people who couldn’t seem to handle their own problems.

Many people look back and believe this was the beginning of the end.

Charity is a wonderful concept and should be practiced generously and passionately. The government should help the needy and those who are in trouble. The problem arises when the members of our society come to expect to be taken care of and feel entitled to help no matter what the circumstances or how they came about.

It similar with lawsuits. So many times people sue just because they have undergone some sort of inconvenience or discomfort. Life is lumpy and not every lump ends in a lump of money.

A teenage girl who makes a poor choice and ends up pregnant should receive medical care for her and her unborn baby if she chooses to keep it. She should receive housing help, clothing, diapers, and food for her and her child. But then when she gets pregnant again, and again, and again and before you know it she’s 23 years old with five children under 6….that’s not poor judgement. That’s a sense of entitlement and no interest in rising up to be anything more than she is.

Unfortunately statistic show that this is a cycle that will likely repeat itself. And all along, taxpayers are paying the price and the deficit gets worse. And that’s only one program.

Handouts help. In certain cases they can be a lifesaver. At one point in my life I was on welfare and it helped me support myself and my two small boys while I worked and went to college. In my case it was the only way I would have survived and been able to keep my family as well fed and healthy as I did.

The problem comes when people abuse the system and valuable man-hours that could be spent helping more people go to hunting down the abusers. Someday I hope that the system will be fixed but if you pay attention to the news it looks like most municipalities are simply whittling these programs down into non-existence.

If you see a program being hurt by cuts, get inolved. Offer to volunteer some of your time in order to help raise funds, look over financial management, whatever you can do. In my city, budget cuts closed all of the head start facilities. Taking education away from at-risk youth….what could be more depressing than that?

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I know, I know, you’re sick to death of hearing about the mortgage crisis and what can be done to help it. Should the government help out? Should the people who got themselves into this mess be left to sink or swim on their own? What about the poor people who bought houses in the same neighborhoods and are now dealing with sinking property values as their neighbors are all foreclosed upon?

Their is some, but not much, debate for most people as to how and why the “Mortgage Crisis” happened. Just about everyone involved made mistakes – some knew they were making them and some were completely ignorant despite what the critics say. In the end, property values couldn’t continue to rise and loans taken out with the hope of refinancing later on expected equity couldn’t possible work.

Peopl were dumb – I won’t deny that. Lenders were vicious and purposedly put people into situations that they couldn’t handle. Loans were sold at lightening speed like some sort of financial institution game of hot potato. Now the big lenders and the big spenders are left hold the bag full of holes. And the question is being thrown about – Who’s the real victim of the mortgage crisis?

I don’t think it matters. We’re all being effected whether we own one of these bad mortgages or not. Odds are we know someone in trouble. I’ve already mentioned property values going down whether your neighbors are in forclosure but certainly moe severely if they are. The government will have to end up doing something and even if it doesn’t directly use our tax dollars, it is taking up our representatives time which costs up something somewhere down the line.

Who’s the real victim? America is.

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Usually the first reason people give for not being involved in community or charity activities is lack of time. It’s no secret that everyone’s life is busy. We all have kids, jobs, houses, lawns to mow, appointments to keep, bills to pay, etc.

Fortunately, many nonprofits have realized this and are very flexible in the when and for how long they want you to come in. In fact, many organizations are more than happy to have you drop off something you’ve made at your home in your own spare time such as sandwiches for a community kitchen.

Community meetings are a little more difficult to work into your schedule sometimes since they are normally at a predetermined time which may directly conflict with your schedule. Luckily, there are many different branches of the community that you can get involved in and I’m pretty sure you can find at least one that you can squeeze into your busy life.

Attend a city hall meeting – you can even bring your kids if you must. Join the PTA if you have school age children. Getting involved doesn’t even mean you have to leave your house anymore. Sign up for your local political newsletters through your email. Visit their blogs, leave comments, write emails to your local representatives. Make phone calls for your candidates or upcoming agendas that you favor.

In short, there is always some way to get involved and make sure your voice is heard. In fact, you could even start a blog and post about the issues that important to you like one woman I know did.

Peace, Knowledge And Community Spirit

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