A Guest Editorial by Chaplain Don Zapsic, Jr., U.S. Army (Retired)
A cacophony of competing interests continually rises to vie for finite government resources in the form of funding, man-hours and material support. Whether the issue is the opioid crisis, homelessness, rising crime rates or a myriad of other pressing concerns, something has to give somewhere. The truth be told, there are many scourges upon the face of the earth that routinely degrade America’s standard of living and try as we may, only so much can be reasonably done. The perfectibility of mankind and the imminent mastery of his environment are mere myths in light of the absence of a long-awaited Utopia that has never even remotely materialized. Our beguiling problems are ever with us and when by happenstance one problem gets solved, a new crisis quickly arises to take its place. Occurrences such as emergence of a previously undiscovered disease like AIDs or unprecedented damage and loss from a chain of natural disasters quickly comes to mind.
So how does government strike a right balance in the face of countless demands and limited resources?” It is not to be found in trying to satisfy everyone as the late German poet Friedrich Holderlin warned, “What has always made the state a hell on earth has been precisely that man has tried to make it his heaven.” Since heaven on earth is unattainable and a hellish existence is readily accessible through a combination of bad choices, unjustifiably expanding the size and role of government is not the answer. The most recent example of such an expansion is the Affordable Healthcare Act. Like other forms of socialism, it coercively redistributed wealth from many who could previously afford health insurance to augment failing state and federal programs designed to provide affordable and often free medical care to the poor. The income gap between working producer and unwilling-to-work-yet-able-consumer significantly narrowed under the auspices of what was deceptively marketed to be a “win-win” for everybody.
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The expectation of reconciling society’s greatest needs to the resources they deserve is not a realistic goal. Worthy causes are by necessity competing causes as dozens, if not hundreds of considerations must be taken into account to determine who gets what and how much. Politically speaking, the more well connected and organized fund seekers are, the more likely they will succeed in grabbing a bigger piece of the funding pie. Financially speaking, government funds are limited and advocacy may yield nothing more than gaining a hearing along with a few parting conciliatory sentiments. Those who gain the lion share of sought-after-funding would do well to remember that their acquisition did not occur in a vacuum. Perhaps a worthier cause was overlooked as there may not be as much food for poverty-stricken children or shelters for the homeless on a cold-winter night.
One of the many great things about our country is its reputation for being the most generous nation on the planet. Such generosity must be protected and nurtured by respecting the property rights of others. Fleecing the golden goose is not going to produce the desired outcome necessary to sustain those most dependent. Free enterprise is by no means perfect, but is still the best economic model the world has ever known. The United States, as Holderlin implies, will never be heaven-on-earth. It can continue however to be a land of opportunity where poverty is more of a reluctant choice than a life sentence. The private sector must continue to pick up where government leaves off regarding redress of worthy causes unrequited. Perhaps the bitterest pill to swallow in striking a right balance between countless demands and limited resources is the recognition that battling poverty will always be part of the American, and the human, experience.