General Welfare

Last night, an historic bill was passed in the House of Representatives in the name of "protecting the General Welfare." I think that anyone who reads this blog is probably somewhat acquainted with my views on that subject, but I thought I'd put in my two cents anyway, partially because I'm really upset with the "blue dog" Dems and the government in general and partially because I just did a post on promoting the general welfare that I would now like to amend.

For the record, I don't believe that it's the government's responsibility to make everybody happy. However, the government should at least try to keep most of its citizenry happy. It's quite apparent if you look here that most people don't want this particular species of healthcare reform. (Obviously, the vote on the page is mine.) Therefore, by passing this bill, the House of Representatives was actually destroying the general welfare. The general welfare is what the people want, not what the government says the people should want.

Also, general welfare is not entitlement. We as a people are not entitled to a posh life. The government was not put in place to make everybody successful. The government's job is to protect the constitutional rights of the people, which are enumerated in the Bill of Rights. This is a far cry from the feeling of entitlement that is so prevalent today. (See Equality, Parts I, II, and III.) Don't be deceived, people; the government knows about this feeling and is using it to twist the American people into complicity with a scheme that can only ruin the nation. We've seen what "healthcare reform" does in Canada and the UK and other countries, and we don't need that horrid muddle here.

Just because everybody who's anybody in the world has a socialized healthcare system doesn't mean that America has to as well. We are America, the Land of the Free... not the Land of the Entitled. We do not follow. We lead. So following all the other civilized nations, lemming-like, in their descent into mayhem is not acceptable no matter how the government spins it.

There's still hope; this snafu of a bill isn't law yet. It has to get through the Senate first and then across the President's desk. And even if (when) this bill does get rammed through, it won't be the end of the world. God has something lined out for us. It will be hard. It will probably involve chastening, so to speak. But in the end, it will be worked out for good, at least for those of us who are Christians (Rom. 8:28-29). So let that be our hope. Someday, somehow, everything will get better... even if we have to wait until the other side of eternity to see it.

I am way too busy, so I haven't posted lately

...which is terrible, I know. But seriously... when you have to write one full-length essay and five or six half-length essays for one (yes, one) college application, you don't really have time to do anything else.

So that means I've been almost totally blind to the outside world--except for the Olympics--for the past week or two.

Oh, yeah, and there was that healthcare "summit." I didn't actually watch it yet (I will sometime relatively soon), so I can't comment like I'd like to right now. However, there is one thing I'd like to point out that's been bothering me for a while.

My mom noticed that the president called everyone at the summit by their first names. No "Senator So-and-so" or anything like that. Personally, after Senator Feinstein's little problem with a high-ranking general calling her "ma'am," I thought at least one person would have a bird.

Not so. Everybody took it in stride, oddly enough.

This kind of rubs me wrong, and not just because it was done by a president with whom I don't agree. It seems that recently, especially under the Obama administration, we've lost respect for elected officials. Have you ever noticed that nobody calls the president by his title? It's either Mr. Obama, Obama, or The President. Nobody I've heard, not even liberals, call him Mr. President or President Obama.

This makes me wonder why. Then I realize that the why doesn't really matter. Those of us who are Christians are called to respect authority. This doesn't mean we have to agree with the authorities; obviously, if the authorities sanction abortion, we shouldn't agree with them, and should actually resist (peacefully). However, we are still to honor and respect them.

Thus, I think that this trend of neglecting to call elected officials by their titles is dangerous. They worked for those titles, after all. And even if we have difficulty respecting the people in the office, we should at least respect the office.

Anyway, that's all I'll be able to post for a bit. Hopefully I'll get to watch that healthcare summit soon and then be able to comment on the actual substance of the matter.