Getting schooled on why our country is broke!

While the GOP leadership was in the Liar’s Den in D. C. to ‘negotiate’ on our national debt limit, I was attending a county Board of Commissioners (CBOC) meeting in Kansas. I did not realize what I was observing during the meeting, but later in the day, it was as if The Holy Spirit inspired me to realize what I had witnessed. I recommend everyone attend local government meetings to be schooled on how government grows surreptitiously, and why our nation is broke!

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I attended a CBOC meeting last year under similar circumstances. Grant money, to be controlled by Planned Parenthood for sex education and services, was being considered for authorization by the CBOC. Even though this money was touted as being ‘free money,’ because the County would not be in control of the money, the grant was denied. It was obvious from the outset that this meeting would be considerably different from the one of last year. I wasn’t made aware of this meeting until twenty (20) hours before its start. I arrived forty (40) minutes early, only to find that a ‘select group’ had been made aware of the meeting well in advance, and it was already gathering in force. This select group even had adhesive tags denoting their support for two grants to fund a program entitled ‘Personal Responsibility Education Program’ (PREP). PREP offers sex education programs targeted towards youths aged 10 to 19, and is strategically split between an abstinence based program and a teen pregnancy prevention program. From a less ‘strategic’ perspective, these programs send mixed signals to confused teens, compounding the challenges youths experience during an exciting, yet exasperating time in their lives. The two grants totaled $304,000. There are also provisions for continued funding for two additional years within the grants. What wasn’t included in the written description of the two grant line items on the meeting agenda is the fact that the actual source of funding for these grants is the U. S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), authorized by The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 2010 (ObamaCare). What was included in the description was ‘…, at no cost to the County.’ In this case, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment acts as a pass-through agency from the Federal government to the County Public Health Department. Without getting into the specifics of the moral vs. amoral debate, it is apparent that this offers a microscopic insight as to how our deficit and accumulated debt has gotten so out of control. Agency grants, originated and targeted towards specific groups by unelected bureaucrats, must be reined in across the board immediately! The inference that the funding for these grants is ‘free money’ is offensive to all, except for those who equate greed and power to virtue. The parallel expansion of government into our lives involves the ‘authorization’ of additional employees, especially those ‘dedicated to the cause.’ One grant includes funding for two, full-time equivalent Health Educators to deliver ‘selected programs’ under PREP. The other grant includes the addition of a .4 full-time equivalent social worker to deliver services. What wasn’t made clear is if benefits, such as health insurance and a retirement program, are included within the grant money offered. If not, who picks up the tab for these items? The ease with which the entire ‘event’ was orchestrated was breathtakingly alarming, all the way through to its insidious conclusion. What had transpired behind the scenes prior to this open meeting is not known outside of those who coordinated the pro-PREP offensive. How long had the pro-PREP contingent known about the meeting so that it could mobilize its support for the meeting? The supporters of PREP outnumbered the opponents by 11 or 12 to 1. In spite of the 4 to 3 vote in favor of authorizing the grant pass-through, the energy within the room conveyed a ‘fait accompli’ for the authorization of the grants. You had to be there to understand the negative energy within the room and the methodology employed in an attempt to sway the Commissioners to vote in favor of PREP. When the floor was opened to public comments, the parade of lemmings made their way to microphone to woo the Commissioners into voting in favor of authorizing the County Public Health Department to accept the grant funding from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to implement PREP. The emotional and provocative verbiage in support of PREP began with a Unitarian minister, and included a collage of proponents of government-sponsored sex education programs. Interestingly, among the comments mentioned more than once, is the inability of parents to discuss sex issues with their children. Would it ever occur to the puppeteers of government-sponsored sex education that maybe parents are a contributing source of teen sexual issues, tensions and challenges, and the parents should be a greater focus in addressing these issues, tensions and challenges? If the intention is to influence behavior, isn’t it easier to influence a confused youth than attempting to influence an adult? Don’t you find it amazing that those in government and authority strive to ‘control’ teenage hormones and activity with ‘evidence-based’ programs, much like the green-nicks want to ‘control’ the environment? Statistics, graphs and guiltless immorality trump human nature, genuine communication and concern, and Christian/moral education. Aside from the pleas to endorse the opportunity to influence county youth on sexual issues, one comment made more than once was the belief that the grants represented ‘free money.’ Doesn’t this just play to the ignorance and baser instincts of selfishness and greed of those blinded by ‘getting something for nothing?’ When the public comments were concluded, there were a few questions raised by several Commissioners. Amazingly, after the dominant parade of pro-PREP support, the grants were approved by a slim 4 to 3 vote, minus $14,000 to $15,000 for at-risk youth services that overlap with existing programs available within the county. In recapping the events regarding the grants, the county accepted $289,000 to $290,000 ‘at no cost to the County’ from our Federal government that is running a $1.4 trillion deficit. Additionally, it isn’t clear if benefits are included in the grant money accepted for the additional personnel authorized by the grants, or if the county and/or state are on the hook for these costs. Isn’t ‘free money’ great? These are just two grants by one Federal agency for one county in Kansas. How many other ‘free money’ grants are being offered and authorized by other agencies within government to other counties across our nation? Yet people wonder why we have a $1.4 trillion deficit, and our national debt is skyrocketing at an alarming pace! One other issue worth considering is the approval of grants authorized by the infamous ObamaCare, while the state of Kansas is engaged in a lawsuit to exempt the state from the ominous restrictions, government intrusion, and increased costs that are part and parcel of this legislation. This conflict is compounded by the state of Kansas accepting $31 million for the early implementation of ObamaCare. Don’t these two actions combine to undercut the state’s position in its lawsuit against ObamaCare? Most people fail to realize that many of those who rise to the Federal level of politics begin their careers closer to home. While it is exciting to focus upon major political seats at the Federal level, conservatives and the TEA Party movement must focus upon cleaning up government at all levels, starting at the city and county levels, or there won’t be the foundation necessary to support those at the state and Federal levels. By capturing precinct committee positions within each county, conservatives can work to offset the dominance of ACORN and unions in politics, and establish a ‘farm system’ for leadership at all levels of government. The next time someone claims that he/she has access to ‘free money,’ please consider what was witnessed in a small county Board of Commissioners meeting room in Johnson County, Kansas, and resist the temptation to believe there is any such thing as ‘free money!’