Writes a friend:
9:05 am on August 19, 2011My wife works for the state. As an anarcho-capitalist, that drives me crazy. But she is one of those folks who has honest intentions and chose her career path because she wanted to help people. She is a counselor (social worker) whose job is to help single mothers get off of government welfare. However, having worked in this area for years, she sees government welfare for what it is—a means to foster dependency. It breaks her heart to see the people who really do try beat down, and those who are perfectly happy mooching off the system rewarded.
A number of times we have gone into our own pockets to help individuals who we thought were serious about improving their lives but were discouraged by the state. Her employer prohibits this practice, and my wife could lose her job if they found out.
My wife is currently working with a woman who is in desperate need of transportation. She lives in a rural area where there are virtually no employment opportunities, and has no family to help her. She was recently accepted at a local community college to take classes in cosmetology, but the state-provided public transportation service twice failed to pick her up to go to the orientation despite the arrangements being made by my wife. The result is that the woman won’t be able to start school until next year.
After looking at what is available from the state (nothing) and the area churches (very little), my wife decided that the only alternative would be for us to buy this woman a used car. So my wife contacted a friend of hers in that business. Of course, as you well know, the government’s Cash for Clunkers program decimated the used car market. My wife’s friend said that he has never seen prices this high for used cars. So instead of getting her a $500 car, the best he could do was a car for $1,900. Okay, that stinks, but it wasn’t like it was totally unexpected.
So now we look into getting the woman a drivers license (she moved from another state and hers had expired). It turns out that it will be a month before the DMV even has an opening so she can take the test!! And now the state requires two separate tests, the written test and then the driving test, on two separate days. This woman lives nowhere close to us, but it will be up to my wife and I to get her to the DMV not once, but twice because of stupid bureaucratic rules.
I cannot express to you how frustrating this has been. Every time you think you’re clear, another obstacle is placed in your way. We hear all the time from the Limousine Liberals and the politicians that only the state can take care of the poor. Yet, it is this very institution which hampers us, or, in some cases, completely prohibits us from helping those who really need it. I truly believe that most human beings are compassionate and empathetic. Or, at least, enough of us are that poor people aren’t going to be left starving in the streets absent government “assistance.” Once again, the state is not the solution. As always, it is the problem.
