Dependency and Freedom

I plan on posting on this topic more than a few times.

I think there are many reasons people are being sucked into the "Great Society" as LBJ put it.

There are the Obama Phone People.

There are the truly in deserve of help.

There are the blood suckers, doing anything to get someone else to pay their bills.

There are the reckless that make me hate to go to WalMart. I see them every time I  go there. Their carts filled with junk in one cart and the other with food for the Food stamps register.

I am not addressing them, at least not now. I am interested in the group that want to be independent but are afraid, or are just hesitant to step out and demand more of themselves.

You know who you are. You have pent up desire in your heart, you just aren't executing. To you I say dependency is a form of slavery. It's especially that when you let the Government rescue you.

We used to own one of the largest mortgage companies in the State of Washington. We employed over 100 people. I ran into one of our top 5 producers a couple of years after we shut the business down. He had all kinds of talent. He had a great personality. He worked hard and was dependable. He was so good I often thought of making some sort of partnership with him.

He was a six figure earner. He was honest, thorough, and cared about people.

But two years plus had changed him. His wife worked. He made the conscious decision to live off of unemployment and be a stay at home dad. He was working the system. How do I know he was working the system? I know because he got a job two weeks before his unemployment was to expire.

If that is you or your mentality I offer this. The man I employed was free and happy. He was active in planning meetings. He had ambition. He gave that away for dependency. He wasn't free any more. His demeanor had changed. He wasn't really happy to see me. He knew that I knew that he had sold out. He knew he was kidding himself as he told me his story.

The good news is that he got a job. He isn't making half of what he used to make. But he is free from the bondage of the system. He gets up like he used to get up, ready to go be somebody. I bet his employer loves him as much as I loved having him. I bet he has that spark.

I interject here that I was a Mormon Bishop for five years.  That experience is a big part of my perspective. We have a welfare system unlike the Government. You don't just sign up for it. And my is it effective. The Bishops serve their congregation in need with the understanding that done properly, welfare can bless both the giver and the receiver. There are expectations placed on a Bishop that go hand in hand with the giving. The Bishops goal is a temporary relief coupled with bringing in the resources needed to help relieve the need for help. It isn't a right, it isn't permanent. The Bishop is to care about the need but also care about the spiritual and mental well being of the recipient. It's an amazing concept that is in action all around the world.

So what's the point of this?

If not obvious let me summarize it by saying Dependency is not freedom. The more we ask of our Government (which is really our tax paying citizens) the more we give up. The more rights the people demand from the producers the more freedom they give up.

Lets be a free people. Lets not seek to be dependent on anybody if at all possible, especially the Welfare System.