No Poor Detected

By Dr. M. Sidney Wallace

I attended a luncheon last week where the speaker was addressing the collapse of the American Health Care system. The speaker addressed the positive value of modern health care in the United States and the problems of paying for it. After the talk came a question and answer period. The very first question asked by a sensitive bleeding heart individual was, "what should we do about the poor?"

This got me to thinking about the history of the United States, and the existence of poor individuals therein. When I got back to my computer I called up a copy of the Declaration of Independence and commenced a word search for the word "poor." I found no reference in the entire document. Next I called up the Constitution of the United States and commenced the same word search. Again, I found no reference in the entire document.

From this initial search of the two original documents of the United States, I found absolutely no mention of the word "poor." From this fact, I considered that there might not have been any poor individuals in the new world at the beginning of the United States, because I did not think the founding fathers could have missed such a large factor in life.

I next decided to verify the definition of the word, "poor." Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary offers several definitions.

The first definition was "lacking material possessions." Basic common sense tells me that there must have been individuals in the new country that were "lacking in material possessions."

The next definition reads, "relating to, or characterized by poverty." I feel sure that there must have been at least one individual that could have been characterized by poverty.

Another definition reads, "lacking a normal or adequate supply of something specified." This definition seems too subjective to be realistic. I cannot believe that there was not at least one individual that was lacking a normal or adequate supply of something.

So why did the founding fathers of the United States overlook such a major factor in their population?

They provided for a legislature to construct specific rules of conduct for the citizenry. They provided for a judicial system to settle disagreements between citizens. They provided for an executive arm to provide for national defense and to administer the day to day operations of government.

How could our founding fathers have missed such a major factor of their society?

My conclusion: The founding fathers considered the state of being "poor," as a subjective individual condition. Individuals born into poverty could move to personal wealth with their own personal initiative, without any intervention of government. If an individual lost his wealth, he could regain it by application of personal initiative, without any intervention of the government.

The government of the United States should insure that there is a level playing field for all of its citizens; however the state of being poor is subjective, transient, and totally within the control of each individual's own initiative. In other words, if you think you are poor, use your brain for what God intended it for, and get up off your ass and go to work.

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Copyright (c) August 16th, 2008, by Gulf1

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