The Theft of Human Goodness

Photograph of a sketch of the French author and traveler Alexis de Tocqueville. Undated, by an unknown artist. Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University.

A recent quote from Mike Beebe, a Democrat and the Governor of Arkansas, about the expansion of Medicaid should be the poster child (make that poster article) for all that is wrong with the Democrat party in its current state. I am almost ashamed to affirm the fact that I was once a Democrat myself, and remained so until the party drifted so far to the left as to be more reflective of communist values than the traditional American family values of which we were once so proud and well-founded.

Rather than launch into a broad based rant that would only be argumentative, I will point out the error in the thought processes of Governor Beebe and the Democrat party in general as relates to Medicaid in Arkansas. It’s pretty simple, really. The governor admits that one of the main reasons for his support of Medicaid expansion is that the federal government will pay most of the cost, and the state of Arkansas will miss out on those increased revenues if the welfare program is not expanded. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the gross errors in that train of thought.

First and foremost, the federal government has no money with which to expand Medicaid or anything else! We, as a nation, are broke. I suppose it is possible that Gov. Beebe has been so dedicated to his guidance of the affairs of Arkansas that he hasn’t seen the national news section of a newspaper in several years. It is more likely that he knows the plight of the nation, but, like the bulk of Democrats, cares not a whit that we are borrowing ourselves into extinction, printing money at such a frantic pace that the dollar will soon be worthless, and insuring that our children and grandchildren will inherit a bankrupt nation that gives them no hope and strips away the very essence of what it once meant to be an American! (Excuse me, my anger over what is happening around us as we bury our heads in the sand is causing me to lapse into rant. I’ll get back to the subject).

The second gross error is the governor’s blind belief that the federal government is telling him the truth…that they really will cover the additional cost, albeit with monies stolen from our children’s futures. If the news teaches you nothing else, it is that government lies! Leaving all other government programs without comment, the CBO has already recognized that Obamacare is going to cost taxpayers and insurers far more than was presented to ‘we the people’ before its passage. We were lied to about the cost. It has been that way with virtually all government programs for decades…they always cost more that we are told, and the government always provides far less than it promises. Will the feds pay all the costs of Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion? If you believe they will, I have a bridge over the Arkansas River that I’d like to sell you.

My dear old Granny always told me, “Don’t complain about something unless you have a solution to the problem.” She was right, of course, so here is a simple solution for the governor and the Democrats to consider: Leave It Alone! Arkansas’ current Medicaid system, and that of most other states, is far from perfect, but it is sooooo much better than the expansion and debt and increased federal involvement the Arkansas governor is recommending that it might be considered to be a single rose growing in a two holer outhouse. Why is the current system better? Thanks for asking.

There are certainly uninsured in Arkansas and everywhere else. But there are no people who are forced to go without medical care anywhere in the nation. Laws, ethics, and sense of doing right (something the Democrats are taking away from individuals) mandate that hospitals treat those who present with medical problems whether or not they have private or state insurance. Hospitals do this every day! It is an unspoken part of our great medical care system. You and I pay for these visits by means of higher insurance premiums and higher medical costs, and that’s okay…it has been calculated into the system for ages and is one of the ways we individual Americans take care of each other. As in other instances, liberals are trying desperately (and succeeding at an alarming rate) to steal away our human goodness and replace it with a cynical and law-driven form of government control of all American citizens.

Why is our paying for higher medical costs and insurance rates better than federal government debt paying for a state government program? Because it is people helping people. It is individuals, private businesses, churches, civic organizations, helping those in need. There was a time, not that long ago, when those in need depended on their neighbors and their churches…depended on the goodness of others…to help them through rough times. Those of you who are old enough to remember back to the ’50s and ’60s may even remember that government functioned much better, national hopes were higher, parents worked toward and expected a better life for their children, the economy grew at a delightful pace…life was good. President John F. Kennedy’s famous words, “Ask not what your country can do for you…” might have been the last time a Democrat actually voiced a belief in the goodness and independence of the American people. Now all we hear from them is, “Government should do this for you and that for you.” The unspoken message to us from the Democrat party is, “You are far too stupid to do anything for yourself…government must be your savior!”

Alexis de Tocqueville visited our country from France in the years just after the Revolutionary War to find out what made us tick and why our system of government seemed to work so well. His answer, surprising at the time and all but forgotten now, was that our government worked well because of our churches and the sense of goodness that the citizens took from them. Our government worked because it was subservient to God, because citizens cared for one another, because we looked out for each other in an environment free of an oppressive government ‘that knew what was best for us.’ (That last thought was not written by de Tocqueville – I threw it in myself because he doubtless forgot to include it.)

Our government (I prefer to blame the Democrats, but admit that it is not entirely their fault) is making great efforts to take that goodness away from us. It is actively taking away our good and charitable nature, and has taught an entire generation that government is the solution to all problems, that government is the provider of all of our needs, that government is where we should turn when we are sad, lost, or in need of help. That’s a sad commentary on the current situation in America. We need to change it before it is too late, but the problem is far too complex for most of us to know where to begin.

Here is one small step…a place to begin…a tiny revolution against the socialist horde that is stealing our virtue. Call your state governors and legislators. Tell them, “Leave us alone! Don’t mess with Medicaid just because you think you get free federal money. Leave us this one little bit of human goodness, of personal love for our fellow man. Let people, not an impersonal and agnostic government, take care of the uninsured that enter our hospitals. Allow us to keep just a little bit of our humanity. We would like to be able to care about our neighbors, and maybe renew the standard of human, Godly goodness for the rest of the nation. Please don’t take that from us.”

The Democrat party once stood for something positive. Something has caused the party hierarchy to lose their way and stand for things that are decidedly un-American…central government control of business, education, insurance, health care, banking, housing, and more, demonization of our religion and once sought-after personal success, and a devaluation of our Constitution and the freedoms it once guaranteed. I for one am just not bright enough to see the difference between what so-called progressive Democrats are forcing on us hapless citizens and socialist European and downright communist governments are doing to their citizens.

My advice to Democrats? Look closely at your candidates and think about what they stand for. If they are voting the party line, as are most of them, they may not be the same kind of Democrat you remember from only a few years ago. Are the Republican candidates the perfect choice? Not by a long shot. You need to spend more time than you once did to find candidates who are honest, patriotic, and believe in traditional American values and freedoms; candidates whose goal is to do what is best for the nation, not to give away to you or anyone else so much as to make you completely dependent on them and their government for sustenance at the expense of our children’s futures.

Tom Brokaw called the WWII generation ‘the greatest generation,’ largely because they sacrificed for this nation, fought for a better future for their children, and, most of all, believed in America, its values, and the American dream. I am a member of the baby boom generation, a product of what the greatest generation fought for. I am ashamed that my generation has dragged our once great nation down into the abyss of hopelessness, divisiveness, and derision of the very goodness de Tocqueville realized made us great. It’s time to demand freedom, demand the old-fashioned American values recognized by Democrats of past generations, demand the goodness and Godliness on which our nation was founded.