I made the sad mistake of violating my own personal policy and made a political comment on Facebook the other day. The only reason I got on Facebook in the first place was to spy on my children. I soon found myself reconnecting with lots of old friends, and became "friends" with a bunch of people I don't remember or never knew. It was fun. Anyway, after a particularly frustrating work day, I read a post about how wonderful it is for Californians to be increasingly taxed so that the less fortunate can be helped. It rubbed me the wrong way, not that I don't believe it is our duty as human beings to help those less fortunate...because I do. The idea that this can be accomplished by giving more money to the government was the rub, and the impetus behind my comment. Oh woe is me! I was immediately cyber-attacked and equated with right wing, Fox-News-brainwashed nut jobs. My privileged childhood was brought into question, and suggested as a reason for my ultimate lack of concern for the poor and less fortunate. Gee whiz! My parents were teachers! Don't get me wrong, I admit that I have been very blessed, and have never lived where bombs are going off in the marketplace, I've never been hungry, homeless or sick. But at the risk of a second violation of my personal, non-political FB posting policy, "here I go again".
I'm frustrated by the mere fact that the federal and/or state government is by far the most inefficient way to accomplish almost anything. I just can't embrace it as solution to our problems. Now obviously we need government...I'm not an anarchist. The government should provide for our security, regulate for our safety and protection, and provide the needed infrastructure for and oversight of commerce. But If I were required to pay 20% of my income to vetted private non-profit charities and industries who would administer education, healthcare, welfare, job training programs and almost anything else you can think of, I would gladly do it. It's well documented that private charities deliver at least 70 cents on the dollar to the beneficiary with less than 30 percent administrative costs. The government is the opposite; 70% overhead and 30% to the end user. Think about that. The recent term "non-essential government worker" struck me as funny, until I looked at my pay stub and realized nearly 30% of the money I earn goes to the government, and part of it is used to pay the "non-essential government workers" salaries, lifetime health insurance and pensions....ha!, the joke's on me! The (very) small contribution I give to my church probably does more good in my community than all of my state taxes. (Well, maybe except for the development of California's high-speed railway....that's sarcasm if you didn't catch it...I will probably use it again later). A Republican-run government is no more efficient that a Democrat-run government in my opinion, so don't start with the Fox News comments again.
Seriously, if you have a really important package, one that you really don't want to get broken or lost and has to be there on time...how many of you take it to the US Post Office? That's what I thought...UPS or FedEx, right? The US Post office is losing $25 million PER DAY, doing the exact same function as these private companies who receive no public funding. If you are going to force employers and individuals to purchase health insurance, and reduce payments to doctors and hospitals, and add new taxes to medical device manufacturers to fund healthcare for the uninsured...who would you choose to administer the program? The Cleveland Clinic, The Kaiser Foundation, Sutter Health? Of course not...the well oiled machine that it the Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services and the Internal Revenue Service. The only government document with more pages than the Affordable Care Act is the Medicare Billing Regulations Manual. It's going to be like scheduling your surgery at the DMV. Federal and state governments are spending over $650 million on the national marketing campaign for the Affordable Care Act. Just the marketing. There are only 314 million people in the United States, and 50 million without insurance. Do that math... (ok, I will. That's $13 million per uninsured person). It's okay...use your hand to push your jaw shut. Let's just give everyone in the country $2 million and call it a day.
My heinous comment disparaging the unfairness of undocumented kids getting free college educations while I pay full price for my children was what triggered my friend's judgment. It sounded insensitive and I regret saying it. I don't begrudge these kids one bit. In fact I don't blame people for coming here illegally at all. I would probably do the same thing. I am certain that if I were hungry enough, I would steal food. However, if caught, I would go to jail for it. My problem is not with the illegal immigrant, it is with a government policy and system that rewards some people for breaking the law, and punishes others. Who makes these choices? I don't get it. Maybe the law should be that if you are hungry enough to steal food, it's okay. Two staff members that work with me now immigrated legally from Mexico, lived and worked here for a number of years, learned to speak English, and recently passed their citizenship exams. Have you tried answering these test questions? They're tough! We celebrated with a flag-decorated cake.
As for my friend who told me that the only worry I had growing up as a privileged youth was what color socks I'd wear, he's right. As adults, we have to deal with a few more difficult issues. I know a guy who finally wanted to be his own boss and invested in a business by mortgaging his house and taking out an SBA loan. He had a small company with about ten employees, to whom he provided good pay, (non-mandated) health insurance, paid time off. Of course he had to pay his share of their payroll taxes and unemployment insurance as well. Unfortunately, the business eventually failed and he had to let these people go. Looking someone in the eye and handing them their last check, yikes. Since he had leveraged everything for this venture, he had to file bankruptcy. He lost his house, car, all of his retirement savings...everything except his kids' student loan debt. He had to start over from absolute zero at age 49. Sheesh. Oh, wait a minute....that was me! So, I hope my friend can understand why I might be a little jaded about sending my hard-earned money to a government who funds countless dubious ventures, and inefficiently manages those that do have merit. I am very happy I live in a place where I can say these things without fear of being arrested, or shot in the head...so far at least (I hope the NSA isn't reading this blog).
Anyway, I've rambled long enough. I wanted to get it out of my system since I'm retiring from politics (without a pension). I'm going back to writing fiction...it's much more fun, and less controversial. Well, maybe not. Have you read Broken Paradigm?