The Solution
(This is the Kind of Liberal I Am)
There are people who never work . . . because they are mentally or physically unable.
We, the people who work, desire to help those who cannot help themselves. We are willing to share a portion of our earnings with them.
There are people who never work . . . at a job . . . they "work" the system.
We, the people who work and then retire, have a name for these folks. We call them "deadbeats".
The Government’s M-O-N-E-Y comes from people who work. The people who EARN the money for those who DON’T have a right and responsibility to decide how that M-O-N-E-Y is spent.
I am a people and I am exercising that right to help decide how to spend the money.
I have a plan.
Remember Ross Perot? He said if you have a problem and come up with a possible solution, implement that plan in a "test" area. Set up one pilot program and test it. If it works, implement it elsewhere.
My test area for my pilot program is in Detroit, Michigan; Caldean Town, as it is now known. I grew up there. Back in the "olden days".
When I lived there, back in the 1940s, it didn’t have a name, it was just a neighborhood. A GREAT neighborhood. I lived a block and a half from Grayling Elementary School at 456 Fernhill. One and a half blocks from school and one and a half blocks from the State Fair Grounds.
It was G-R-E-A--T! The school was G-R-E-A-T, the State Fair was G-R-E-A-T, the neighborhood was G-R-E-A-T!!
All the houses on my street had big front porches and the neighbors sat outside or joined each other on their porches most summer evenings. There was a vacant lot and street light two houses down and we kids would play Kick The Can or baseball in the evening. In the daytime we would often lie in the grass gazing up at the clouds and find all sorts of critters and objects – in the grass and in the clouds.
This was a working class neighborhood. Lots of factory workers. Several families had two generations living together; parents from the "old country" who didn’t speak English, or spoke it brokenly, and their grown children; first generation Americans.
Did I say it was a G-R-E-A-T place to live?
I have written a story about the serendipitous fact that my dad lived at 492 Fernhill in 1919 attending Grayling school when it was new. Twenty-five years later he and my mom and me lived six houses down from his childhood home, at 456, and I spent seven delightful years as a grade school student at this beautiful school. 456 Fernhill no longer exists, 492 is Still Standing. YEAY. More than half the homes on both sides of this street are gone.
Have you seen Grayling lately?
http://www.detroitfunk.com/?p=5052
SAVE GRAYLING SCHOOL . . .clean out the trash, repair the destruction by vandals, and use this beautiful structure for a pilot program to implement my plan . . .
. . . to save an historic building
. . . to restore dignity to a neighborhood
. . . to help folks who need help . . . temporarily.
TEMPORARILY is a word that should never have been taken out of any plan to assist those in need.
THIS IS THE PLAN (being sent to Congress).
In every community there is a "Grayling School", one or more buildings that would be suitable.
Stop giving the money directly to the people. "The People", as in the deadbeat dad who uses his welfare check to buy drugs or booze, or the welfare mother who leaves her children home alone at night while she goes out and parties. Or the guy standing in the welfare check line talking on his Blackberry. If these folks are few and far between, as some would have us believe, then it won’t be a big problem to solve.
(If the people are going to ‘give’ their money, they have a right to demand accountability.)
This plan does not include, is not for, a recipient who meets the criteria of wise use of the money. If a working dad or mom can maintain a safe home and sufficient care and supervision of their family, these are the folks who set the standard. Criteria like proof of not being on drugs, not being an alcoholic, not being a shopaholic, history of paying bills on time.
(If the people are going to ‘give’ their money, they have a right to demand accountability.)
For the rest . . .
Restored Grayling Elementary is now a temporary home for those in need. When I attended school there, there was a kitchen and lunch room on the basement floor, along with a large gymnasium. Restore the kitchen, lunchroom, and gym.
Restore the beautiful old library. Fill it with books and 2-3 computers. (Computer use to be scheduled and limited and based on meeting certain requirements.)
The money that was once given to individuals is now used to maintain this self-contained community – a place to house and feed the people in the community who need it. The library provides a place for learning and relaxing. The gym is a place for exercise, stress relief, and running off excess energy – something both children and adults need.
The classrooms can be turned into living quarters for individual families. Most classrooms are big enough to house a mom and/or dad and two children. A few classrooms can be combined to house larger families.
One or two classrooms can be turned into learning centers for the adults who want to improve their earning skills.
* * * * *
Grayling Elementary is one school in one community. Every community across the country has buildings like this that could be restored and turned into centers for helping those in need.I worked hard to earn my money. I am now retired and struggling to live on $1300 a month which includes a $400 mortgage payment. I worked hard to pay my taxes and live within my means. The Government – who uses my money and speaks for me – has a right to say to those who ask for help --
"This is the money of the people. They have set aside their hard-earned funds because they have compassion and want to help. You do not have to accept this help. But if you do, the people say, this is what you must do in return."
There is NO FREE LUNCH . . . really. But there is reciprocal help for those in need.
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