Living at the Will of the State
Imagine walking through a carpeted room with rotting floor boards...you can't tell when or where the ground will simply fall away from under your feet. This is what it is like to live at the mercy and whim of a government, like many of our country's weakest residents and those who care for and about them must do.
With a current political climate that just seems down right mean in allot of ways, funding for the weak and helpless is often the first to go when the Econ 101 question of "guns or butter" starts leaning more to the left. And why not? Often living at the fringes of society, mentally impaired, poverty ridden they are a disorganized minority with no voice and no money...and besides, the mentally missing are not exactly going to grow into high tax bracket voters now, right? For those in government looking for cash, quietly "restructuring" (e.g. raping) social programs is as easy as shot gunning quail trapped under a net.
On Saturday November 11, 2007 the following made the front page of The Columbus Dispatch:
"State May Cut Funding for Kids"
It was an article about how the State will cut medicaid funding for children with autism. The State says that it is in the best interest to restructure the current funding before the Federal Government does. (I never doubted for a second that our current Federal "Terrorist in Every Pot" regime would not go after the weak. In fact I'm a bit surprised it took them this long to get to our kid; but I'm amazed at how quickly our state caved to them. I thought elected officials were supposed to stand for those who elected them first. Guess not.)
The effect will be IMMEDIATELY devastating for families and children with autism... and as the following letter indicates, will have long range consequences too.
What's the difference between cutting programs that help the weak in a tight economy and throwing the lame over the side of a stranded and distressed ship?
When a corporation is nearing the rocks, it lays off its employees. It has to, that's just business and it must be done. It's the hard-nosed realities of life in a thriving open economy. In fact, if the business did not do that, it may die and many more people would be affected...all the way from suppliers, the communities that benefit from its taxes, those that rely on the business for products and; of course, the employees.
But when the same good, sound corporate principle is used too aggressively by a government created "by, for and of The People", government turns away from being a protector of those who create and nurture it toward a protector and hoarder of its own self-interests. The Government then is no longer living for the people who create and sustain it, The People are living for it.
Governments are not companies and they have more options than companies when faced with hard financial times. We've all heard of counties going bankrupt..but did they then get broken up and sold off to the highest bidder like a corporation? ("Franklin County, going once, going twice, SOLD to the State of Michigan for $5.95"!)
What do you think will happen to you, Dear Reader who lives in such a "State, Inc." preoccupied with its own financial success and gaining a better "market share" of tax paying residents and companies? A State or government like that has little purpose for investments that will not generate much return and the weak of mind or body are just not promising "investments", now are they? What will happen to you if suddenly unemployed, uninsured and ill you petition such a state for assistance?
What have we let ourselves become when we let the very government that we created, our government ...the most wealthiest and powerful of nations...turn coldly on the weaker amongst us?
What have we become?
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Dear Governor Strickland and State Representatives:
As a parent of an autistic child (age 8) I read with horror in the Columbus Dispatch November 17th, 2007 edition that the State I reside in and pay taxes to is turning its back on its most vulnerable constituents, along with the people who love and care for them.
By restructuring funding for children with autism without fully guaranteeing that their care and education will continue without interruption or modification of any type, future years will judge your administration as responsible for:
An increase in homelessness over the next decades
An increase in crime over the next decades
An increase in victimization of this most vulnerable segment of your State.
A reduction of jobs within the State.
A reduction of reasons for taxpaying voters to continue to support your administration
A reduction of reasons to continue to reside and work within a State already hemorrhaging from both job loss and flight of residents with higher education.
A loss of votes from your constituents who are appalled by the State's cavalier attitude toward the needs of these children and apparent rubber-stamping of Washington's agenda.
An increase in institutionalization.
How will your administration's new proposals aid, if only in spirit, the following articles from Ohio's Constitution that you and your administration are sworn to protect?
FROM ARTICLE I: "INALIENABLE RIGHTS" "…seeking and obtaining happiness and safety":
The proposed changes will only serve to INSTANTLY create a devastating increase in poverty, increase in emotional strife, reduction of living standards, reduction of self-funded retirement accounts to below poverty within those families that make every attempt to love and support their disabled children.
FROM ARTICLE I: RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE; EDUCATION; THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION AND KNOWLEDGE "…to encourage schools and means of instruction.":
The present funding does an excellent job of providing for the highly specialized type of education that autistic children need. There are very few alternatives, if any and public school is not one of them.
ARTICLE VII: PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS
Insane, Blind, and Deaf and Dumb
"Institutions for the benefit of the insane, blind, and deaf and dumb, shall always be fostered and supported by the State."
In the larger scheme of things, (ignoring the outmoded, pejorative terminology) the above Article says that the State will always stand by and protect its most vulnerable residents. Instead, it seem like your administration is rushing to align itself with a Federal Government well known for reducing or curtailing funding for the weak to fund an ineffective and unpopular war on two fronts.
The numerous programs available through the current funding system meet the State's promise to its weaker residents and must continue.
The current programs for the treatment of autism work and Ohio is often referred to as a progressive State in the treatment of autism because of them. They must continue without interruption of any kind.
I am certain that while your administration's proposed legislation was made with the best interests in mind for Ohio, upon closer inspection it is a disaster.
For a glimpse into what life is like as a parent of an autistic child, please refer to: http://water-is-jumping.blogspot.com/
Best Regards-- Lori and Jim
http://winslo.state.oh.us/govinfo/stgvtop.html
