The Ambulance Down in the Valley

'Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed,
Though to walk near its crest was so pleasant;
But over its terrible edge there had slipped
A duke and full many a peasant.
So the people said something would have to be done,
But their projects did not at all tally;
Some said, "Put a fence 'round the edge of the cliff,"
Some, "An ambulance down in the valley."

But the cry for the ambulance carried the day,
For it spread through the neighboring city;
A fence may be useful or not, it is true,
But each heart became full of pity
For those who slipped over the dangerous cliff;
And the dwellers in highway and alley
Gave pounds and gave pence, not to put up a fence,
But an ambulance down in the valley.

"For the cliff is all right, if you're careful," they said,
"And, if folks even slip and are dropping,
It isn't the slipping that hurts them so much
As the shock down below when they're stopping."
So day after day, as these mishaps occurred,
Quick forth would those rescuers sally
To pick up the victims who fell off the cliff,
With their ambulance down in the valley.

Then an old sage remarked: "It's a marvel to me
That people give far more attention
To repairing results than to stopping the cause,
When they'd much better aim at prevention.
Let us stop at its source all this mischief," cried he,
"Come, neighbors and friends, let us rally;
If the cliff we will fence, we might almost dispense
With the ambulance down in the valley."

It seems to me that many of the entitlement programs out there could be considered an ambulance at the bottom of the valley instead of a fence at the top of the cliff. Giving people 2 years worth of unemployment compensation does not help to solve unemployment. Foodstamps, wic, chip, and other so-called "welfare" programs do little to raise people out of poverty.

I understand the basis of the argument for entitlement programs, yet I also understand the argument for their elimination. I personally believe that the federal government should administer very few if any entitlement programs.

Legitimacy of their existence aside, I take issue with another philosophy as well. Encouragement to sign up for the programs angers me. When I was preparing to come home from my training in the army, one of the briefings that I received was called "re-integration to civilian life" or something like that. I was infuriated by the content of the briefing. There was virtually no discussion on finding work, financial planning, and no emphasis on personal responsibility. Instead, the so-called counselor encouraged us to go straight to the unemployment office and get "signed up". She told us to sign up for wic if we had kids, gave us information on affordable housing and HUD, and gave us information on a slew of other programs. Later, when Nikki and I had Keely, a nurse approached us and asked us if we wanted information on how to sign up for CHIP and WIC. Then again, while getting Keely some shots, another nurse asked us if we wanted to get CHIP.

This encouragement to sign up for entitlement programs aggravates me. I just don't think there should be an effort to recruit people to become participants. If someone inquires about an existing program, great, but I don't think we should go around asking for new enrollments. It's almost like somebody's getting paid commission. It's an affront to me to suggest that I can't take care of myself and my own without the government helping me along every step of the way. I would be ashamed to take federal (and therefore taxpayer) money just because I qualify. Even if a person needs the help, I would certainly hope that he or she would be embarrassed enough about it that they get off as soon as possible.

But I digress (always wanted to say that). Back to my original point. It seems that the government all too often focuses on the symptoms of society's ills instead of the root causes. Perhaps that's because many of the problems that entitlement programs address are rooted in social issues more than simple economic problems. And, unfortunately, you can't legislate human behavior.