The Undeserved

Trey Smith

The other day I was at the grocery store. I was talking with a gal about universal health care. Overhearing the conversation, one of the checkers said universal health care was a bad idea and not right for the good 'ol US of A. Her remark didn't surprise me at all because I already knew she was an unabashed conservative. In her eyes, America is falling behind in so many areas because of all the lazy poor people who want handouts.

After mulling over her usual arguments -- ones I've listened to countless times before -- I realized there really is a stark divide between those who have a conservative mindset versus those of us who view things much more expansively.

Conservatives are willing to sacrifice the deserved in order to ensure that the undeserved don't receive one penny they aren't entitled to.

Moderates are willing to sacrifice some of the deserved to ensure that most of the undeserved don't receive one penny they aren't entitled to.

Liberals are willing to sacrifice a few of the deserved to ensure that a significant portion of the undeserved don't receive one penny they aren't entitled to.

And then there are leftists like me. I'm not willing to sacrifice ANY of the deserved and if that means some of the undeserved receive benefits they aren't entitled to, then so be it.

There are scammers in all walks of life. Many people become rich preying on others. Why is it most people only castigate financially poor scam artists, while giving wealthy ones -- some of which are celebrities and/or important people -- a free pass?

I'm not suggesting that we should craft a system that allows people to cheat and lie without consequences. We have a court system for that. If the government determines that someone received something they shouldn't have, then they can work to get it back and/or punish the individual in some manner. But to deny people their basic needs to guard against the few who might take advantage of the situation is patently mean, callous and inhumane.