Oct. 19, 2009 issue
Freedom to fail?
By Duane Beachey Whitesburg, Ky.Writing on health care reform, David Weldy upholds individual freedom, including the “freedom to fail.” Apparently he believes it is OK if someone with a good job and health benefits gets cancer, has to quit work and loses his insurance, can’t make his house payment, loses his house and ends up bankrupt. I wonder how that person feels about his freedom to fail. Only the wealthy think using taxes to help those in need is a form of theft. Government is for the common good, and how we take care of the weakest says what kind of values our society has.
Deut. 8:17-18 says: “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” Throughout the Bible we see that God judges individuals and even nations who forget the poor, the widows and the fatherless. Second only to idolatry (which can also be money), the Bible warns us in 2,000 verses about the “deceitfulness of wealth” (Mark 4:19) and ignoring the poor. Jesus talks about this at least a dozen times — even separating the saved from the unsaved based on, “I was hungry and you fed me.”
How can one suggest society has no responsibility for those less fortunate? And if one complains about the unfairness of one’s tax share that goes to the poor, the poor pay an even dearer price through the highly disproportionate numbers of their families who die protecting America’s power and wealth.
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