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Sunday, April 10, 2011

Sarah Palin and the Poor

                    "However, there need be no poor people among you, for in
                      the land of the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your
                      inheritance, he will richly bless you,"  -  Deuteronomy 15:4


Bill O'Reilly's March 24th interview with Sarah Palin was made (in)famous when she told the Factor host to stop interrupting her so she could give him her full response to his questions. Reactions to the show revolved mostly around this "treatment" rarely accorded to Mr. O'Reilly. What was less talked about in their exchange about entitlement reforms,though, was how Gov. Palin articulated to him and the audience what is clearly her policy on poverty  (see video here, around 4:10 mark).

Here's the transcript:

BILL O'REILLY: What about the poor people who absolutely need the entitlements they get? You know in your state, there're a lot of people on the dole - a lot! So are you gonna cut these subsidies going to    people earning, say, less than $15,000 a year? Is that gonna happen?
                                                                                                                                                                  
SARAH PALIN:    There is a need for a safety net for those who are disadvantaged, and in some of the rural communities in Alaska where there's 80% unemployment, there is a disadvantage and there needs to be a safety net. But ... you know why there's a disadvantage here in Alaska? Because the federal government has locked up our lands and not allowed us to tap into energy sources so that we can create more jobs, less that 1% of Alaskan land is in the private sector hands. Now we've asked the federal gov't, and I've sued the federal gov't for allowance to be able to develop more so that people aren't of this entitlement mentality where they believe that the only way they can get out of a disadvantage stage is to have the gov't provide for them. If we have a robust economy here and all across the country then we wouldn't have to be looking at these insolvent entitlement programs that, yeah, when we start pulling the plug on some of them, there is gonna be a shared burden across the country.
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That in a nutshell is Sarah Palin's philosophy on poverty. There will be disadvantaged in any community, the disabled and the elderly, and there has to be a safety net for them. For those hit with hard times, there would be help, too, but it is inconceivable in a Palin administration that the maximum 26-week limit on unemployment insurance benefits for most states would be extended to 72, even 99 weeks (as in the case of CA), and if the Democrat Party would have its way, it would go on without an end in sight. Sarah Palin's laser-focus would on job creation. This is the only way that we lift the poor out of poverty. Allow the free market to create jobs and businesses that will provide people means to support themselves, not through cradle-to-grave services that stifle people's creativity and motivation to bring out the best in them.

God provided us with rich resources and dominion on everything on earth but we have to act to utilize them. We  are endowed with land to till, water to fish, hands with which to build things, human brains with which to innovate and conscience to keep in check that we are acting responsibly. For the fish would not jump out of the seas to land on our plates, wheat will not turn themselves into bread and oil will not gush out of the ground straight to our cars and manufacturing industries. From a Jamestown colony that became the first successful settlement because of their leader John Smith's firm order that "He who will not work shall not eat", to the many generations that brought about the Pony Express to telegrams, then the cell phones and now the iPhones. We are a people of actions and innovations. If we find ourselves in dire situations, we have in ourselves the ability to get back up and stand again, and along the way help those who truly are needing of assistance (like the disabled, the sick and the elderly). That's how we build up our neighborhoods, our communities, our country. LET US REFUSE TO BE POOR.




1 comment:

  1. Thank you for writing this!! This should go viral at least to all the conservative Evangelical Pastors and Priests and those in Synagouges!

    ReplyDelete