I remember when I was a kid and my Dad was a small farmer in rural Missouri. Everyone in the community worked and played hard…except those who were sick or crippled up and couldn’t.

I remember the churches and volunteer people helped those who couldn’t work and they appreciated it a lot. There wasn’t a lot of welfare, food banks, homeless people using free cell phones, free school lunches and food stamps…but everyone seemed to manage. If you could find a way to support yourself you did, because being on welfare was viewed as shameful. (If you could support your family and didn’t.)

We didn’t have much money, as a matter of fact, I didn’t even know at the time we was poor folks, I guess because there were not thousands of people sitting on their asses demanding our government feed, house, clothe, educated and provide them with free medical care.

No one would have ever believed that those who work the hardest and made the most money should have to give part of it up to someone who didn’t want to work; that would be considered insane by a normal person.

Of course back then we didn’t have a government thinking of such a foolish thing either.

My Father-in-law came to this country (legally) for a better world. He learned the language, worked hard and raised a family of eight…all on minimum wage. They were poor too but didn’t know it. They could have received welfare and handouts but pride, self-respect and honesty prevailed in their household.

Why do we now teach young people that it’s OK to leach off the government? Welfare is acceptable but if you don’t need it, it’s not owed to us.

We give debit cards so we won’t embarrass people getting freebies and allow people to buy unnecessary things with them. (Some merchants allow it.)

I am not talking about everyone, but it’s getting closer every day. We will soon have a national, socialistic health care system that will cost us an unknown fortune…where those who work and have most of the money will be paying for those who don’t or won’t. Drug addicts, drunks, criminals and professional welfare recipients included!

I read a report about Monterey County, in Central California where Natividad Medical Center is located. It’s a massive, federally subsidized county medical complex, but in one year, 2,735 babies were born at Natividad. 32% of these were born to out-of-wedlock teenage mothers, 93% of which were Hispanic. Less than 20% could demonstrate proof of citizenship, and 71% listed

their native language as Spanish. Of these 876 births, only 40 were covered under any kind of private health insurance.

If something doesn’t happen to correct our direction…we are going to be bankrupt…and who do you think will offer to bail us out?