In Act I of “Hamlet,” Marcellus, having observed the prince’s strange behavior, says, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
As the acts of the play that is my life seem to open and close ever more swiftly, I’m exhibiting strange behavior. Stress and worry are the reasons, created largely because something’s rotten in the state I’m in: old age.
I’ve worked all my life, and still do. I’ve always paid revenues due the government. I’ve served my country during wartime. In other words, I’ve paid my dues, and feel that government must reciprocate by rewarding me with as much peace of mind as possible in my waning years.
As I see it, government is pointing the finger of blame at old folks for getting old. Incessantly, it warns that by the year 2020, almost two-thirds of tax revenues will barely cover Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security payments.
So what? Seniors earned it. They are not the only reason that forty-two cents of every dollar America spends is borrowed, and they are certainly not to blame that government spends untold billions caring for illegal immigrants, most of whom pay nothing to government. Those billions would be better spent on old legal citizens who earned the right to be cared for. Illegal immigrants didn’t.
Even worse, government doles out billions to able-bodied people who could work, but found ways to correctly complete bureaucratic paperwork, and draw unearned checks indefinitely. Diverting those payments to gerontological research and letting the non-productive bums starve would be honorable and just — two words that never apply to bureaucracy.
My favorite living American, Ann Coulter, commented recently on televised interviews with English riot participants. Several women who bore a half-dozen or so illegitimate children sired by different men said they were angry because government wasn’t paying them enough to support their kids.
Like spoiled-rotten brats who demand more and more from indulgent, pampering, overprotective parents, these women are demanding more, will continue to demand more, and will never consider supporting themselves. After all, what is received unearned never stimulates a desire to earn.
Considering America’s alarming illegitimate birth rate and the entitlements that fund women who indulge in the lucrative cottage industry of producing un-pedigreed dependents, isn’t this country setting the stage for similar civil unrest?
The money being doled out to these undeserving women should be invested in caring for geriatrics who spent their lives pursuing the American dream — a dream that may become a nightmare if they aren’t provided for when they’re unable to work or care for themselves.
Shattered dreams lead to broken spirits. As America’s first Secretary of Commerce and Labor, George Cortelyou, said,
“Any nation's greatest asset is the spirit of its people, and the greatest danger that can menace any nation is the breakdown of that spirit — the will to win and the courage to work.”
In nations where the will to win and the courage to work are subverted by inducements not to compete and win … something’s rotten.
Jimmy Reed is an Oxford, Mississippi resident, Ole Miss and Delta State University alumnus, Vietnam Era Army Veteran, former Mississippi Delta cotton farmer and ginner, author, and retired college teacher.
This story is a selection from Jimmy Reed’s latest book, entitled The Jaybird Tales.
Copies, including personalized autographs, can be reserved by notifying the author via email (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)).
