Does government aid increase bigotry?

Many people believe that because we claim to live in a Christian nation, then the government should be responsible for tending to the poor.  Is this really what Jesus meant when he said we need to "care for the least of these?"

Lets start by defining the least of these. Who could we classify at the least among us? For many the poor would be considered, and indeed Jesus did speak about the poor much (see Luke 11:41; Mark 14:7; Luke 6:20) but were there others that could be considered "least" among us? (Matthew 11:11; 1 Cor 15:9; Luke 9:48) It would seem to mean anyone who does not have a leadership role, for many that would include more than just the poor, the in-firmed, the down-trodden. Our American definition includes anyone who cannot take care of themselves, the disabled, the mentally handicapped, fatherless, widows, elderly and unemployed.

But is sending these people to a government agency really "caring" for them?  Or did Jesus mean something else when He commanded us to "care" for them?  Caring, by definition includes, "to watch over; be responsible for" http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/caring?s=t. This means that we are to be personally involved in caring for them. We have instead set up a system of cold, sterile, and unfeeling agencies that the "least" among us must traverse; usually without assistance by the people who make a big deal about caring for them. But does sending them to the government release us from our personal responsibility to care for them?

For many people, raising taxes to set up government agencies to assist the poor is the only responsibility they feel to them. "I pay taxes that go to the poor, so I don't have to do anything else," has become an unfortunate reality in our world.  We feel good about ourselves because the fatherless are not hungry, the disabled get health care, the elderly are not left alone, and the unemployed are not starving. But is this really caring for them? Or is this simply removing them from our hearts? Do we feel personally responsible, or do we just want to get rid of them?

Are we telling them, "Here is your money, now get out of my sight." Instead of feeding them from our own table, we send them to the nearest food pantry or shelter. Instead of offering to see to the upbringing of the fatherless children we send them to daycare and let the gangs raise them. Instead of bringing them into our homes, we send them to the overcrowded shelters. Instead of giving them a job, we give them some money and send them out to find something themselves. Removing the personal responsibility of caring for the "least of these" and instead pushing them away into a cold unfeeling government maze only increases our own bigotry.

We feel that because we pay our taxes we have done our good deed for them. But instead the process that has been put in place actually makes them feel unattached from society, entitled to what they did not earn, and ungrateful. And who can blame them for being ungrateful when those who claim to "care" about them are so unempathetic towards them? The unfortunate side effect of our so called "Christian" government aid system is less compassion and actually more bigotry.

We, in America, have redefined greed and charity, envy and covetousness. I for one do not understand how a man who gave a large percentage of his income to charity can be called greedy, and a man who steals from the general treasury to pay for his lavish lifestyle is called generous.
How much of the money that the president has wasted on vacations and golf could have been better spend on AIDS research, or Juvenile Diabetes or even for food stamps? The whole world has been turned upside down and anyone who can put two thoughts together needs to put a couple of thoughts together before they fall for the lies being told by our president.
I personally would rather see a leader who know what real charity is; income redistribution is not charity, it bastardizes the system by giving a false sense of charity for paying your taxes and removes the responsibility of the individual to care for those less fortunate.
I do not see progressives giving more money directly to charity, all they demand is more taxes. Charity starts when you open your own wallet and give, whether that be: of your money or your time or your compassion or your empathy or whatever you have. And that means that NO ONE is off the hook, these days only those with money, A.K.A "the rich," are expected to contribute to charity, the poor get a pass; but the poor can give just as much as the rich, only in other ways like time and energy.
For this reason, the current idea of taxing the rich to pay for the underclass will never work, because it removes the responsibility of each human to take care of his brother. And yet, being conservative I am called the greedy one and the compassionate liberal who refuses to give anything other than tax money is called generous.
Charity starts at home, not in Washington D.C. We have been told the poor will be with us always, ever stop to think why. It is because charity is meant to be for both the giver and the receiver. You will never feel it if all you do is pay your taxes.

Epiphany

I have just realized that I have a VERY big heart. I heard a woman on the radio saying she has gone through some horrible things in her life and it has softened her heart, and she has a soft spot for the poor, and the underprivileged. She claims that she has more concern and feels worse than anyone else for these poor people. I disagree with her. I don't think she cares more for people than I do.

For example:

I feel horrible for the Amish farmer in Wisconsin who had his farm raided by the FDA and may lose his farm and his livelihood because some government agency decided that the product he sells is not approved. http://healthimpactnews.com/2011/wisconsin-judge-rules-against-raw-milk-farmers/ And the organic farmers whose meal was destroyed by health inspectors. http://www.adistinctiveworld.net/?p=6091

I feel horrible for the elderly on Medicare whose benefits will be cut to pay for Obamacare. http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/04/hhs-secretary-sebelius-admits-to-double-counting-in-obamacare-budget/

I feel horrible for the veterans whose Tri-care benefits will be cut. http://www.cnjonline.com/articles/tricare-45618-prime-john.html

I feel horrible for the senior citizen who was made to remove her Depends to get through airport security. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/tsa_checks_grandma_depends_oDXrPMOaC4ZAiXKGEtKXsJ

I feel horrible for the young mother whose daughter was told her children's lunch didn't meet the government standards. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2101354/Food-police-reject-preschoolers-homemade-lunch--favour-chicken-nuggets.html

I feel horrible for patients who are told by their government insurer that a medication that could save their lives will not be covered. http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/medicare-coverage-for-breast-cancer-drug-ends-in-some-states/

I feel horrible for the Marine who was arrested because he wanted to know where to store his gun when he was in the Empire State Building. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/marines-rallying-around-former-pfc-arrested-for-trying-to-check-gun-at-empire-state-building/

And then had his named dragged through the mud by the liberal media. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/nyregion/ex-marine-facing-gun-charge-had-bad-record-manhattan-prosecutor-says.html

I feel horrible for the teachers who win awards for excellence and then are laid off because the unions have to protect the tenured teachers. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2009/10/honored_in_february_sacked_in.html

I feel horrible for the parents who are told their school district cannot fire a teacher for surfing porn on the web while at the school, on school computers because he is in the union. http://m.host.madison.com/mobile/article_a47a943e-6309-11e1-be00-001871e3ce6c.html

I feel horrible for the people of WI who saw the State Capitol building ransacked and broken into. http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_260247e0-4ac4-11e0-bfa9-001cc4c03286.html

I feel horrible for the teachers who took a political stand for reform and then was threatened by the unions. http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/134517958.html

I feel horrible for the young girls and boys who try to sell lemonade outside their homes only to be told they need to spend hundreds of dollars to get a permit before they can continue. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/02/iowa-police-shut-down-4-year-olds-lemonade-stand/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/08/03/the-inexplicable-war-on-lemonade-stands/

I feel horrible for the property owners who are badgered to give up their properties for pennies on the dollar to make room for development. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20060108/NEWS01/601080395/Eminent-domain-case-goes-court

Or just told they cannot live on their properties period. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw3RiMdS7sE

I feel horrible for the women who take an unpopular stand on issues and have all kinds of unspeakable labels attached to them. http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/05/the-lefts-respect-for-women-a-look-back/

I have a VERY big heart. I cannot stand to see the citizens of this country treated like criminals in the airports, like interlopers on their own property, like morons who cannot take care of their own kids, like greedy back-water hicks who don't pay enough taxes, like ignorant rednecks because they attend church and carry a gun. The responsible citizens are called bitches and sluts because those good citizens have values.

I have enormous amounts of compassion for all the regular folks who just want to go to work, raise their kids, sell their goods, live on their land, want to pay for their health care, who deserve respect for serving this country, and who do a good job. I hate to see them being defamed and denigrated for being the kind of Americans they have always been. I feel for the rugged individualist, I feel for the proud mom, I feel for the military veteran, I feel for the cancer patient, I feel for the farmers, I feel for the down-trodden, I feel for the abused, I feel for the neglected.

I don't believe the progressives when they call me a racist, bigoted, homo-phobe who wants to throw old people off a cliff, who wants dirty air and dirty water, who wants fat kids, who hates immigrants, who wants women to be bare-foot and pregnant. Because I have a big heart. I have way more compassion for the little people who are being trampled by government intrusion, than you. So don't tell me I don't care, it is you who really doesn't care.

How do you define compassion?

The next time a progressive calls you greedy try this argument. How compassionate is it to take resources from a worker and give it to those who do not work. Notice I didn't say those who "cannot" work. There are jobs available. McDonalds is hiring, but most people who are unemployed will not take that job because they somehow feel the job is beneath them.

The Bible says if a man will not work, he should not eat. Notice it doesn't say if a man cannot work. It is not about ability or aptitude, it is about will. If a man chooses not to work because he can get more resources from not working, then we have the problem with entitlement. How compassionate is it to let a man take from the resources of others who contribute, when he is able to contribute himself, but refuses to? That is not compassion that is greed, and it is happening all the time with the current poor.

Many of them are poor because that is the path they have chosen. The welfare mom who keeps popping out babies to increase her monthly allotment from the workers while giving nothing back to the world. The OWS protesters who have college degrees but will not work for a company that doesn't give them a six figure salary. The union laborer who demands a larger salary and extreme benefits packages while the taxpayers cut corners and scrimp and save to put money away for a retirement that they may never be able to afford. The illegal alien who takes cash payouts with no paper trail and pays nothing in taxes, and has children born on our soil only so he can claim citizenship for his child.

All of these are a drain on our society, and this is what God was saying when he said a man who will not work should not eat.

So the progressive will pull out the whole compassion argument at this point. "How can you be so greedy and not share with those who aren't able to work?" But I made sure to point out this is for the man who chooses not to work, not those who through some physical or mental incapacity cannot work. The system itself is broken, because some think that it is our responsibility to take care of everyone. But how compassionate is a system that takes what someone has duly earned through hard work and gives it to someone who refuses to work?

So then the, "But through no fault of their own, they cannot find a job." diatribe will come out. If they are willing to take a job that makes less than they feel they are worth, then I have no problem helping them out. But if they refuse to work because they think a job is beneath them (can you hear me OWS?) than once again; how compassionate is it to take from the hard working individual to give to those who will not work?

"But you have greater advantage, these people have so much more to overcome to get a decent job." Oh really, so the fact that I had to work for $.50 per hour take home, after paying for child care is good enough for me but not for thee, then I have no compassion for those who think minimum wage is not enough. Work is not a guarantee, it is a privilege. Many more people need to realize that they are not "owed" a job; you need to work for it, and work hard for it, especially if you want the six-figure salary.

My contention is that it is actually harmful to just allow people to scrounge off the hard work of others. It disincentives work and removes the sense of self-worth people need to feel good. The whole movement of equalizing outcomes is harmful to the nation and the people, it makes work anathema. If you don't get to keep the fruits of your labor, what reason is there to work? This is not compassion, it is actually more harmful to the people to let them continue to sponge off of society.

The solution is not an easy one, for the most part people believe that they are entitled to a living; whether that be through a job, where there is no need to actually work hard, or to an entitlement program where they need not work either. So how do we again instill a sense of worth to employment? I don't know if there is anyway to do it other than to rip the band-aid off in one quick rip. Yes it will hurt in the short run, but we have to do it. We have a whole segment of society that will scream at the top of their lungs, but if we are to have any compassion, we need to do it fast and we need to do it soon.

No more kicking the can down the road. No more false compassion.