What Ever Happened to the Separation of Church and State? Obama Supports Faith Based Services

While more and more tax dollars go to war spending rather than social services unemployment, food prices, home foreclosures and, obviously, oil prices and health care increase. So what happens? Obviously more people need services and fewer are getting them.

What's the solution? Seems to me that requiring Congressmen to turn in the SUV's that they're driving and fueling at taxpayer expense and re-channeling the money might be one solution, or making similar cuts in the spending that's allowed by elected officials. Do this, in fact, while simultaneously requiring all social service agencies and employees undergo an effectiveness evaluation.

Why not do the unheard of and tax the wealthy in like proportion to what lower income people pay? Or outlaw late payment fees, the nation-wide practice of charging the poor more for car insurance and car payments, set a cap on the percentage over wholesale stores can charge for products. Do the same, please for the love of God, to hospitals and medical doctors.

Do this while simultaneously requiring all social service agencies and employees undergo an effectiveness evaluation and update for the fast-changing needs of citizens. Do something for heavens sake. Oh wait, the suggestion is to do something for heavens sake, push the responsibility off on faith based programs. Bush and now Obama are all about this.

I see the point. As Obama says, the problem is more than the government can handle. And it's growing. However, the government knew this was coming long ago and took no steps to handle or prevent the looming crisis; as with so much New orleans. In fact, millions of dollars of desperately needed aid sat in storage instead of going to New Orleans as intended and was eventually re-distributed based on red tape technicalities rather than given to those who still really needed it there.

In light of things like this, maybe it's better that the government does reduce it's involvement in the problems of the rapidly growing American poor. Talk about a waste of taxpayer money. However, I don't agree that mixing Church and State is the right idea either. It's not that it's this one thing that's bad. It's probably the only hope that millions of starving, homeless or nearly so people have, sadly. But everything that happens like this sets a precident. And that's a little frightening.

And other things come in on the sidelines of logical initiatives like this. For example, allowing faith based organizations to hire based on faith. Obama says it's ok for them to do that for non-taxpayer funded areas of their businesses. That sounds relatively reasonable. But it lays the groundwork for expanding this sort of behavior, which is discriminatory.

Think about what could happen. It's not a huge leap to go from turning people down for jobs based on their religious beliefs to turning them down for services. How is that in the best interests of the people? And the best interests of the people are clearly not served by that.

Even if you're a person who thinks this is fantastic and/or that no one could help but benefit from a little religion, giving people a choice between conversion and starvation is hardly a way to gain sincere converts. And what really will happen in a society where that's the way things go down? Poverty and it's related social ills, which are many, very much effects everyone in society.

And with the growing number of poor in America falling into the category of displaced middle class people rather than those who come from generations of impovrished conditions, people just might be less likely to go along with this faith based b/s. If it requires faith to receive services, that is.

It might not get to that point but I'd be very surprised.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for Obama. This is just the way campaigns go. You're scathingly attacking your opponent one day, paying their debt the next, (Which makes the whole thing like nothing so much as watching a comedy routine. How are we really supposed to take this but so seriously? That's why I withheld comment on the race between Obama and Clinton, it was very hard to take seriously enough to comment on, as much respect as I have for Barack.)

But that's how it is. And one must try to get as many of the other sides votes as possible, that's logical. So Barack is going after the Evangelical crowd. Like I said, I see his point in that it's a bigger problem than the government can handle. Correction, a bigger problem than the government is willing to handle. Though they were more than willing to create it. So why then can the government expand their funding of these entities? Why can't they expand their own funding? Or give incentives for the forming of private non-faith based organizations?

One of Obama's arguments for the practice is that these organizations are already in the middle of the people who need help. That's probably true, though people who aren't religious might well shy away from seeking help from religious organizations and they should have that right but good luck with that. What about people who aren't in these organizations who are right there?

Think about it, there are probably a lot of people who have lost jobs in industries that provide social services; the legal field, health care profession, restaurant and child care workers, for example. Why not provide money for displaced legal workers to expand legal aid for the poor? Child care workers who have lost their jobs could create places that watch children for jobless people who can't afford day care but need to find a job. Restaurant owners who lose their business know more about running a kitchen than churches do, why not give them the money to do it and to pay service workers a living wage within these places? Health-care providers could find jobs in expanded clinics that do not depend on corrupt Medicare or Medicaid systems.

Why on earth not? Guess none of the above have powerful enough lobbying groups. Except for health care that is but good luck extricating that from the above-stated corrupt, not to meniton inneffective systems. Good luck with any of it. Looks like we're all going to be living in a Dickens novel. May as well just open up workhouses and debtors prisons; faith-based, of course.

Obama Backs Expanded Government Funded Faith Organizations