"Our resources to help our people"

“Our resources to help our people”
 
In response to a blog I posted regarding my belief it is important to have an expansive view of neighbor a friend of mine wrote “our resources to help our people”.     I know that the man who wrote this is a very kind man and, yet, he and I often have different views of who to consider a neighbor and whether there should.be perquisites for helping said neighbor.  
 
A freshman Congress woman has introduced legislation which is now being called “A green New Deal” the essence of which is proposing a plan to switch to 100% renewal energy in 10 years.  The plan is being challenged on the basis of not being practicable,  too expensive, anti-coal and possibly part of a socialist plan.   I have not seen or read the full text of the plan.  It is alleged that the plan advocates job guarantees for those who lose their jobs due to the Green New Deal.  It is also alleged that those who are advocates for this plan also see a future guaranteed minimum income and universal health care.   In other words, many see this plan as a way to promote a socialist agenda.
 
It is no secret that when many hear the words socialist or socialism they think of the repressive policies under the Soviet Communist.  It is not surprising that us humans who have a long history of attempting to feel better about our worth at the expense of others are fearful of giving more power to any form of government.  Yet, the sad truth is that us humans are creative enough to use any system to justify treating a small percentage of people as more worthwhile or more deserving of both luxuries and essentials.  We often seem to believe:
 

1. The 1% who currently have a very large percentage of the wealth in these United States are either deserving of that wealth or are a necessary outcome of the capitalist system.
2. The benefits which members of the U.S. Congress give to themselves are a necessary part of the Capitalism system.
3. For the most part those who are deserving do well under the current system until they don’t.
4.  Most of us are immune from mental illness or other disease which affect the emotional and mental energy to be able to participate and benefit from the current system.
5. A benevolent God or Gods rewards those who work hard and obey the rules – except when he/they do not.
6. We in the United States are a chosen people – more deserving or have worked harder or…
7. If you help those who have not worked for what they get they will just become lazy and a burden to the community.

 
Readers of this blog could add to this list.
 
What if none of the above are 100% true?  What if there is little or no scientific evidence for the above assumptions?   What is all or some of the following are true:

• The better we treat ourselves and each other the more we are motivated to work hard.
• Treating others better (the essentials such as food, love, housing, health care) is not a matter of giving them more toys or other luxuries but more dignity and love.
• All people are the chosen people meaning there is no chosen people.
• Elders need to model the behavior we want to see in our young people
• We are all worthwhile. No has to earn their worth.
• Humans are humans - not all of us have a well-functioning brain and, thus, no all able to contribute at same level.
• We can all have diseases which affect the functioning of the brain
• Members of Congress should get the same benefits as everyone else – no more and no less.
• When individuals are given a guaranteed income most work harder and not less.
• God has a hands-off policy in terms of us earthlings – he/she/it does not withhold or reward depending on worth.

 
I suspect that we would all function better if we question the so-called truths we have been told thus opening ourselves to learning and possibly making neighbors a more inclusive concept.
 
 
Written February 8, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org