the government crutch

Friday, October 2nd 2009. As an average American guy I greeted this morning with the same positive attitude that most have for a Friday, kind of funny when you think of it, how the last day of the work week for most of us just brings joy. On the other hand, I live in Pennsylvania and my happy thoughts were quickly cut short over the headlines I read in my local newspaper this morning.

For those of you who don't know it, Pennsylvania is the only state left in our country without a budget in place. In fact, the powers that be are now moving this stalemate into the 4th month. I can say to you that in the past I would have been someone who had no idea about the goings on in Harrisburg when it came to the yearly budget. However, this lack of coming to terms is affecting thousands of people and as you may have guessed me and my family’s business. You see, my wife and I own a daycare in Morrisville PA. The daycare industry happens to be one that is paid a subsidy from the state. Although our Governor, Ed Rendell signed a preliminary agreement to keep checks flowing to state workers and other state agencies, the agency that pays daycares was left off the list. This subsidy pays parents of low incomes so they can work and at the same time provide care for their children. This system is in place to better their situations and ultimately stop utilizing the system. We have seen it firsthand how the system has worked for so many families we've provided care for. Being a witness to that, we have vowed to those families we have in place that we would continue to care for their children so they could work and continue to build a better way of life. The reality is we haven't been paid by the state since July for these families. This represents roughly 33% of our business. I have heard of other daycare providers with a far higher percentage of subsidized families who are in the same boat. This lack of payment is forcing daycares across our state to lay off workers and in some cases shut their doors.

There lies the background and here's the point. Government is a crutch. To some it's a crutch they carry their entire lives, yes people will abuse the system. Others will use this crutch until they are well again to stand on their own two feet. Unfortunately when you are ailing and there is no crutch, it makes it that much harder to get well again. Some people say that government has no business even having programs like these in place. These are usually the lucky few that have been able to provide without government intervention or their ideals are clouded by their upbringing or other circumstances. The point is government on a state or a federal level is there to provide support for us, the citizens that make up this country. With the way of the economy and the state of unemployment in this country, believe me, no one is immune. Any one of us could find ourselves being one of those people we criticized yesterday, tomorrow. The actual control we think we have is really an illusion and the elected officials have so much control over so many and could yank away what we've come to rely on without notice.

Take FEMA for example. If you were hit by a natural disaster, losing all your belongings, would you expect to be paid for rebuilding your home? Of course you would because the majority of us don't have the resources to do it by ourselves. Is this a crutch? Some would say yes,,,, actually I would say yes. It's something I relied upon when I was a victim of a natural disaster and without it, my family and most throughout my town would still be in shambles. Does FEMA cover everything? Absolutely not. In fact as I've demonstrated in previous blogs, coverage we expect falls short, leaving thousands of people wondering what they can actually rely upon. If you look back at my September 4th post, "changing the rules" you will see that FEMA is in the midst of making a change that will drastically reduce the amount of funding they will provide on the third occurrence.

The reality is this. We as a country have things in place but we can only rely on them to a certain extent. September's NPM, that is, National Preparedness Month has come and gone and I wonder how many actually took it to heart. How many of us thought about our own vulnerability and took steps to be better prepared in case of an event beyond our control. I am trying to do my part. I am convinced that we as a society need to come together to support our fellow citizens. The crutch being offered is not the end-all-be-all to getting our lives back to normal after an event. I am also convinced that no one is untouchable. If you haven't been affected by a natural disaster, I'm sure you know someone who has. The fact is, we as a people sometimes fall into that false sense of security. We live our lives unaffected, doing our day-to-day. We sometimes judge others based upon what we see on the surface and never take the time to look at the full picture of their circumstances. And we all too often think that things will just work out.

I for one, think we need to think again.

DD