3.0 Five Questions to Ask Yourself When Thinking About Your Own Personal Success Question 2: Who is best suited to fix my personal problems, politicians in Washington DC or me?

There are an increasing number of people who think Washington DC has all the resources and all the wisdom necessary to solve their daily personal problems. This kind of thinking is music to the ears of professional politicians and government bureaucrats because they want as many people as possible to be dependent on them. It gives them power and assures their reelection.

If you are conce
ed about your own personal success and you need some help to get out of the rut you are in, think about this: how likely is it that some bureaucrat in Washington DC or even your local welfare office knows how to help you, I mean really help you.

Will they take the time to understand your life as it is and help you find real solutions to the problems you face? Only if you are lucky enough to find a case worker who doesn’t work cases but helps people. This is not because many of them don’t care, but because most of them are overworked and pressured to take on more cases than they could possibly serve with effectiveness.

Their way of helping is nearly always the same – some kind of government handout to help you get by for another week or so. In most cases, their answer will be an EBT card, a welfare check and any other government give-away that makes you think you are being helped.

With nearly a half-century of testing, this way of “helping” people now has a track record. It was President Lyndon Johnson who thought he could eradicate American poverty by declaring a war on it. Despite the investment of roughly $12 trillion, with state and local governments contributing another $3 trillion, the poverty rate never went below 10.5%. The war has been fought, trillions of taxpayer dollars spent, but poverty won.

According to the welfare bureaucrats, the government’s main conce
is to help people no matter the reason for their situation. Charles Murray (conservative author and pundit), believes welfare offers both parent and child an unhealthy alte
ative to working. He claims many people abuse the system and use welfare money when they could work for a paycheck.

He theorizes that when too many members of a community become dependent on the government that the social stigma that welfare once created becomes not a stigma but an acceptable way of life. Eventually this will result in the downfall of an entire society because a strong work ethic creates a strong society but a poor work ethic destroys a society.

There is substantial evidence to support the theory. Just look at the big cities where generations of welfare families have left their streets and neighborhoods in ruin and the two-parent-family in tatters.

Do not expect politicians or government programs to fix your personal problems. You have the intelligence, opportunity and incentive to solve your own problems – to help yourself. OK, I know, sometimes you may need government assistance, however, it should be your last resort not your first choice.

You do not want to become a slave to the government; you want to be free to become the person God created you to be.

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©Ronald D. Ross 2015