I was reading this morning about a man in Bay City, Michigan, who froze to death inside his own home after electric power was cut-off because he owed bills. A limiter device was installed to keep him from using too much power while he paid his $1000 bill, and it did its job wonderfully. Much like a fuse, the limiter stopped working when the house's demand for electricity was too much, and no more power went through. Mr. Marvin E. Schur died slowly and painfully, according to the deputy chief medical examiner.
I'm not a socialist-thinking kind of person. I'm all about Free Enterprise, Open Markets, Economies of Scale, and all those other terms that I really don't understand. I believe that my hard work should yield me good dividends, and the government should leave my money alone unless I break the law. And I believe that, if a company wants to charge an outrageous amount of money for a good or service, another company should be free to come in and offer the same good or service at a lower price. Of course, it's all good on paper...
In reality, there are many among us who can't work hard enough to make ends meet. (There are those who won't, but that's for another post.) These people include children and the elderly, those who are very sick, and those who are oppressed and pinned down to a hopeless life. All of the people in these groups are many times unable to see for themselves. They need those of us who are healthy and productive to help them out. And that's not a bad thing. There is nothing wrong with helping someone. Nothing!
But we seem to have this attitude that giving someone a few bucks will only keep them in the habit of asking. And, sometimes, that is the case. Many times, however, people who ask for help don't like doing so. It worries me that we live in a society where the life of a person, even if he was 93 years old, is worth about $1000. Yes, we can play devil's advocate and say that the power company did not know there was someone old and frail in there, but someone should have asked. You don't just cut the power to a house, in Michigan, in the middle of friggin' WINTER!!!
With the Obama Administration now firmly in power, many of these issues should be addressed. Sadly, politics is still a game of the rich and powerful where the lobbyist with the deepest pockets has the ear of Congress (and Congress' subsequent earmarks). I truly hope that someone looks at the shortcomings in our own backyard because they are many, and they don't seem to be going away.
Sometimes I wish I was a socialist.
