Necessary Roughness

I don’t fit labels very well, it seems. I object too strongly against state control of the economy to be today’s “liberal.” I object too strongly against state control of morality to be today’s “conservative.” Finally, I object too strongly against social Darwinism for libertarians to get along with me.

Having just recently argued here against federal spending for autism, I argued in a letter to the editor of the local paper for a replacement levy that continued government funding(!) for the county board of mental retardation and developmental disabilities.

True, my daughter benefited from the MR/DD program, but this fall she likely may not. The Ohio Autism scholarship, a state voucher program, forces us to send our child to private school in exchange for $20,000 to help fund ABA therapy. I could have said “no,” having benefited from the program but not needing it any more.

I argued for the levy and the MR/DD programs because while federal funding for autism, cystic fibrosis, juvenile diabetes, etc., all help individual people, MR/DD programs help everyone, even those without problems. The county’s programs mix “atypical” with typical students, giving the atypical an example of good behavior while giving the typical the ability to recognize and help those with special needs. Especially in cases of autism and Asperger’s, some of these kids may become engineers, mathematicians, scientists, etc., able to return the favor down the road.

The levy is renewable every two years and accountable by direct democracy, as opposed to federal (and usually wasteful) spending by career politicians. If the funds aren’t being used appropriately, this county is more than happy to yank the funding, such as the voters did with the local parks and recreation department.

There are certain things that are funded justifiably by government taxation. The Constitution limits the federal government to a finite number of things, rogue Supreme Court decisions and career politicians notwithstanding. Locally we should also be very wary of what causes we are willing to force people to pay for. Taxes and levies are force — just see what happens when you don’t pay them.

As inexpensive as the levy happens to be, it is a small price to pay for a little bit of humanity in our society. Generally, churches should be the ones doing the charity work and utilizing need to bring the Gospel into people’s lives. There are some, though, whose hearts are too hard, whose ground refuses the seed of the Sower, that can still benefit everyone by learning that all lives are precious and not to be discarded when they are inconvenient.

Most people, when they are given a government handout, have an immediate incentive not to do things that deprive them of that handout, such as work. Witness the need perpetuated by welfare and the number of people who went back to work after welfare reform. The people in MR/DD programs often are unable to speak for themselves and do not respond to incentives the way you and I do. As soon as they can make that kind of decision, they can indeed operate in society like everyone else and don’t deserve MR/DD aid.

Libertarians will say this is an abandonment of principle, but this is in fact an amalgamation of principles. Funding from local replacement levies provides close-to-the-action accountability Congress and oversight committees cannot give. Everyone benefits from a communal respect for everyone’s life.

I’m sure I’ll make up for this minor appearance of hypocrisy in the next government and economics post.