Paul Ryan's Budget and MSM Spin

I just watched a report on MSNBC which stated that Paul Ryan's budget plan is going to starve and kill old people. That's the actual language they used. Shocking, isn't it? What kind of country would allow their old people to be starved and killed? (See minute 2:20 into the video.)

Apparently the folks at MSNBC think that the seniors of this nation are going to be imprisoned, starved and killed in order to bring government spending under control in Mr. Ryan's budget. What's that you say? That's not the case? Oh, the seniors and their families are just going to have to find another way to pay for their food and care than through government handouts? Well that's quite a bit different isn't it?

The assumption that, without a government handout, these older folks will be allowed to starve and go without their medications assumes quite a lot that may or may not be true.

• It assumes that the senior citizens themselves will not take any action to replace the funds and health care plans that are currently being provided by the government. (And isn't Obamacare supposed to take care of all our health needs? But, wait, that's right, Obama care will be rationed and seniors, being at the end of their lives simply won't be eligible for the best treatments.)


• It assumes that the families of these seniors will not be pitching in to help Mom, Dad, Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe either.


• It assumes that our churches and community organizations won't be picking up any of that slack.


• And, finally(at least for this post) it assumes that drug companies and doctors will deny these people the access they need to proper health care.

Those are a lot of assumptions and for the most part, I don't think any of them are accurate. This is the most charitable nation in the world and if we lack the character to help ourselves, as senior citizens, or our fellows, as younger people, then what hope is there for the world?

Doctors complain now that they are unable to donate their time and talents to help needy patients, because of government guidelines that demand that if they treat one patient for free, they must charge medicare nothing for treating medicare eligible patients. Does that sound like doctors are going to deny care to truly needy patients? (But, wait, I forgot about Obamacare again. Under Obamacare, if doctors don't limit themselves to prescribing only the government recommended treatments, they will be draconically fined and possibly jailed.)

Drug companies already offer free and reduced cost pharmaceuticals for the truly needy as well. That doesn't sound like people are going to be denied what they need for their lives by the greedy drug companies either. (In fact, it almost looks like the drug companies aren't quite so greedy as many have been led by the nose to believe.)

Certainly I am not saying that everyone's needs will be met in these or other ways by families and communities, but then, the government's entitlement programs are letting quite a few people "fall through the cracks" as well. The truth is, that no system is perfect. No system is going to truly meet the needs of everyone equitably. That's not even a realistic goal. If I have to choose between the two options, I prefer to choose a system that encourages people to get involved in the care of themselves and others, rather than a system that relieves me of the burden of caring for my fellow man because "that's what I pay my taxes for", so I won't have to be bothered.

Because, in the end, that's what government entitlement programs are, right? A way to foist our uncomfortable duty to our fellow man off on a faceless entity so that we don't have to be bothered when we see someone in need? We are better than that, and Mr. Ryan knows it. It's time the people at MSNBC knew it too.

The truth is that Mr. Ryan's budget is not going to yank these entitlement programs out from under people. It is going to slowly change the programs so that we can get our act together with regard to caring for our own at the local level.

It is a necessary plan if we do not want our children and grandchildren to live in poverty because they have to pay for our excesses. And that's the bottom line.

"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." ~ 1 Cor 13:3