One of the things that always strikes me when I visit England is the amount of charity appeals. From handouts on the airplane across the Atlantic that ask for donations along with your immigration details to eager students with clipboards standing outside tube stations, appeals for charitable causes are positively ubiquitous. Children, veterans, the handicapped, the disabled, the third world, endangered animals, exploited geographical features, and a cascade of other worthy causes jostle for the contents of one's wallet incessantly.
In the wake of hurricanes Katia, Harvey, Irma, and Jose (and an earthquake in Chiapas and Oaxaca), all manner of celebrity figures have been participating in charitable fund-raising to aid the victims of the disasters in the Gulf/Caribbean. Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless, dozens dead, and infrastructure throughout the region is shredded. In the United States, Florida and Texas are pleading for billions of dollars in federal disaster relief.
But wait... just a few months earlier, hadn't the Trump administration released its $4.1 trillion-dollar budget, complete with a 10% increase in military spending? Didn't that budget call for a complete defunding and stripping-down of the EPA, FEMA, and other federal agencies?
All this brings me to my real point - values. Let's try this syllogistically.
- Caring for the disadvantaged is an absolute moral and social good.
- The government should act as an agent for the body politic.
- Therefore, the government has a responsibility to perform charitable work.
In other words, since someone decided that a publicly-funded fire department worked better than the alternatives, people have been discovering that some things are better off being administered by the government. Why then do a host of television personalities need to petition millions of viewers to donate money to victims of natural disasters? Shouldn't government be doing these things? Shouldn't tax dollars be earmarked for helping those in need? In fact, isn't that the greatest possible use of public funds? Instead of endless rounds of telethons and appeals, why not use tax dollars to fix the problem?
It is usually around this point that some sneering evangelical Christian representative of the alt-right will snort that it is expressly against the teachings of Jesus Christ himself to take hard-earned money away from someone and just give it away to some slacking and undeserving poor person. I'll leave the theological nitpickings of scriptural minutiae to those who enjoy such pursuits. What I will assert is that a redistribution of wealth provides dynamism within an economy. Paying teachers, nurses, and first responders (public employees) a decent wage is not a case of squandering money extorted from taxpayers, and subsidizing victims of disasters is not simply an exercise in profligacy. Money redistributed by the government in this way will be spent on goods and services within the economy, providing cash flow and productivity.
In short, shouldn't we all quit bellyaching about how the government spends our tax dollars, provided that the government is there for us when mother nature wipes out our house and home? This is not a compact to be entered lightly, and it provides obligations on both the public and the government that represents it.
Finally, a quick look at the playlist from my last shower. I've run a bunch of scripts on the iPod Nano over the past few days, so I'm not sure how inspiring the stochastic song selections of the miniscule entertainment maestro will be going forward. In any event, let's wrap this up so that I can grab a nap.
Shower Songlist
- Lost in Space, by Apollo 440
- Run Around, by Blues Traveller
- From the Bottom, by The Blues Brothers
- I Put a Spell on You, by Roxy Music
- You're the Storm, by The Cardigans
- Beatles Megamix - featuring:
- And I Love Her
- Nowhere Man
- Baby You Can Drive My Car
- Ticket to Ride
- Get Back
- Here Comes the Sun
- The Ballad of John and Yoko
- I Want to Hold Your Hand
And that should just about wrap it up for me. I was a few hours late for one of my drug doses yesterday, and I'm just getting back into shape after some very bad feelings. Translated - time for a nap. Liverpool FC did very little to elevate my spirit with striker Bobby Firmino missing a penalty shot and erstwhile defender Dejan Lovren cocking up on a massive scale and gifting Sevilla a goal only five minutes into the game. It's sad when a player screws up so completely that it is actually more embarrassing than an own goal. I would rather he just shot the ball past our own keeper rather than perpetrating such criminal mediocrity. Bah.
Until next time, good night England and the Colonies.
—mARKUS
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