Put Me in Charge - Letter to the Editor

The following letter to the editor (as sent to me via email from an 84-year old woman whose husband prepared for his and her retirement and if something happened to him - - he passed away 5-years ago and she is doing fine).  This letter was originally published in the Waco Tribune Herald, Waco, Texas, on 18 November 2010. Still interesting and applicable today. I can definitely support all of this, especially # 6.

Put me in charge

1.  Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho's, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.

2.  Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then, we'll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine and document all tattoos and piercings. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, smoke or get tats and piercings, then get a job.

3.  Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your "home" will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.
In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a "government" job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the “common good.”

4.  Before you write that I've violated someone's rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules. Before you say that this would be "demeaning" and ruin their "self esteem", consider that it wasn't that long ago that taking someone else's money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.

5.  If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.

6.  AND While you are on Government subsistence, you no longer can VOTE! Yes that is correct. For you to vote would be a conflict of interest. You will voluntarily remove yourself from voting while you are receiving a Gov’t welfare check. If you want to vote, then get a job.

P.S. I also passed it on to all my friends. Hopefully it will receive wide dissemination and something like this will take hold.

Some Thoughts on Solutions to Some of "OUR" National Problems

The Debt Limit:              Raise it one LAST time to whatever is needed in the next two years.

FLAT TAX:                     Everyone and businesses pay (10% to 15%) no exemptions.  At the end of the year, all individuals at or below the poverty line file a return and receive any taxes back that they’ve paid in. States will be limited to a Flat Tax (10% cap) or Flat Property Tax program, one or the other, not both.

Spending:                      Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are capped along with all discretionary   spending. If you’re 50 or older you will be included in these programs. If you are younger, new programs will be established between government and the private sector for retirement benefits, both monetary and health care. Start saving your pennies people.  As for me, you can keep the SS as I planned for my retirement and didn’t consider SS in my planning.

Welfare:                        You’ve got 5-years to get it together and then you’re off the program, never to return. While on the program, you will receive food stamps, for food only. Your children will attend school and you will be responsible for ensuring that they maintain a “C” in all of their courses. They will also attend after school tutoring and daycare. That’s because you will also be required to attend schooling in order to become a productive member of this society, pick a trade school/profession. While not in school, you will be working for the government: Federal, State, or local doing whatever needs doing (e.g. community service). Additionally, while on the program, you will receive counseling for any personal issues you may have. You will not take drugs that have not been prescribed by a physician that is recognized for the medical programs that you are in and you will partake in weekly urine tests.

Medical:                         As everyone has medical needs, and should prepare themselves, Medicare and Medicaid will continue; however, if you below the age of 30 you will be doubly scrutinized to insure that the care you are receiving is needed and why you cannot afford your own health care. Doctors that abuse the medical system will go to jail and serve the inmate population. Upon release, they will sign an oath/statement that they will no long abuse the medical system or they will be barred from practicing medicine in the United States.

I do not believe anyone was born here, put here, brought here, or whatever, to live off the hard work of others, while they do nothing but sit back and party, take illegal drugs, sleep, and selfishly do nothing to improve themselves or our society.  If that's what their belief system is, then they need to change it or leave. We are here to improve on the principles of our founding fathers and help each other succeed. That means everyone has to get off their butts and get to work. If we all did, we could all retire at 50.I’ve got a lot more ideas that I’ll put out there for everyone to read and think about.

These are just starting points for a national discussion that is desperately needed. I know that I will take hits from the slackers of our society, yet I’ll just have to deal with it as best I can. Lastly, as everyone knows, if we tax the top 10% of the money earners in the US at 50-60 percent, the nation will end up just like the misery that has happened to/in Detriot, Michigan.