By John Bassett McCleary
Written in 2002

Some people have no tolerance for those who are homeless, jobless or drug addicted.  There, but for the grace of God and our politicians, go you.  The Christian work ethic becomes an accusation when there is no work to be had.  The American dream is a nightmare when the bed you sleep on can be taken away overnight.
People are falling through the cracks in America because the cracks in our streets and in our society are getting bigger.  Big business, not people, has been the priority of our government.
Those of us who are financially secure may think that social safety nets and the welfare system are give-aways designed for those other people.  Not so! The welfare system was designed to protect anyone in case they fail.  Even you!  And it can happen to you!
The systems that were originally established, with good intentions, by liberal administrations have been in the hands of conservative management for some time now.  Conservative administrations don’t care whether the systems succeed or survive, so, naturally, the systems have diminished and deteriorated.  They are in shambles, and in jeopardy of total failure.
In the past you may have fancied yourself a capitalist, and, therefore, voted for people who said they would cut taxes and reduce government involvement in your life.  But, look around, government hasn’t become smaller during the present administration; it has just become less efficient and more expensive.
What good are low taxes if all the things that make America great are gone?  If our roads, bridges, tunnels and public transportation are falling apart, libraries are closed, schools inefficient and medical care unaffordable, are we really any better off than a third-world country?
Even with the taxes we pay now, which many people think are too high, we pay lower taxes than almost every other industrialized nation.  And, to top it off, we are getting far less proportionately for the taxes that we pay.
Unless you make hundreds of thousand of dollars a year that will continue coming to you even if you are sick or incapacitated, you are not a capitalist, but just another working stiff.  In that case, you need the safety nets and social welfare, just in case.  Except for the very rich, we need a system that protects us from utter destruction if we fall.
In the last decade or so, insiders and wheeler-dealers have taken advantage of the system.  More money has been stolen from the hands of hard working people by doctors in Medicare scams, bankers in credit card schemes, and builders in HUD rip-offs than will ever be taken by homeless people getting handouts on the street.
I don’t condone heroin addiction, but I don’t think that it is any more destructive than a dry martini addiction.  It just happens that this society has chosen to make heroin illegal, but not gin.  Therefore, the sale and use of heroin is outside the law, which increases the price so much that most addicts have to steal, prostitute or panhandle to support their addiction.
Some people have addictions to gambling, credit cards, sports cars or golf.  These addicts are still able to fit unnoticed into “polite” society, but somehow the rest of us end up paying for it anyway.
Don’t look down at those on the streets who have been short-changed by life.  There, but for the grace of God, goes your stockbroker.

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