by Steve Catman
Clash Daily Guest Contributor
My two US Senators from New Hampshire have recently proposed legislation that calls for an additional $25 billion in tax payers’ money because “the opioid crisis is the greatest public health crisis facing our nation”. Notice how the drug problem is a “public health issue” like a virus that one catches from another.
It’s clearly not a health issue but rather a moral problem and we all know that government money will never solve this problem. So if the politicians can convince the public that it is a public health issue they gain our sympathy and cooperation and we allow them to round up another bill to the taxpayers to the tune of $25 billion. We then feel good about doing our part in helping to solve the problem and during the next reelection cycle our politicians get to say that they also did something to help.
I’m not implying that on some level our politicians don’t mean well but am I the only person who’s sick and tired of the government announcing another expensive program to solve a problem that every one of us knows they can’t solve? The drug problem is a symptom of a much deeper issue. It’s the fruit of 40 years of increasing economic hopelessness, moral decay and depravity produced by the policies of Leftists in our government.
Remember years ago Leftists tried to hide from us who they really are? Now they don’t even try. Pay attention to the words they use and how they twist their meaning. They are about 90% toward the attainment of their goal of morphing American society into something that our founding fathers, whoops sorry, mea culpa, I meant “founding people” would not recognize as being their creation.
The” non-drug crisis” will be solved when the body politic begins to elect to public office men and women who have a firm understanding of what has made America undisputedly (despite her faults) the greatest civilization in all of human history; namely the Judeo/Christian basis of our society, form of government and our culture.
Do we really want to spend another $25 billion on a program or programs that we know will have a very minimal effect compared to their cost? Leftists have been telling us for decades that they know how to solve the poverty problem; namely by throwing more and more tax payer’s money at it. Have you noticed that it hasn’t helped one iota? Look at our major cities that are overflowing with homeless people. It’s a moral issue not a drug issue.
When was the last time you heard one of our noted Leftists even suggest that perhaps fallen human behavior is at the root of our cultural decay? Have you ever heard any of them even subtly suggest that maybe we should encourage people to not produce offspring until they are married so that the offspring may grow up in a safe and stable environment, become responsible citizens, not be prone to drug abuse and thereby lend stability to our culture? Do they hold citizens to any level of responsibility at all?
As always, the policies of our Leftist lawmakers have the opposite effect of what they proclaim. They create a problem and leave the taxpayers to deal with cost of the problem they create. Take the cost of the “non-drug crisis” crisis to my state which is astronomical in its many and varied forms. Just take the burden it places on the outstanding NH court system, one of the most highly rated state court systems in the U.S. The cost of the drug “crisis” in the N.H. court system in terms of “case loading” is astronomical. Dealing with directly related drug crimes, namely dealing and possessing drugs, is one thing but if you include the administrative costs of dispositioning all of the crimes that are indirectly related to drug crimes, the burden on the court system and the tax payers of my state is astronomical.
Crimes like Theft by Unauthorized Taking, Theft by Deception, Identity Theft, Credit Card Fraud, Forgery, Simple and Second Degree Assault are very often associated with the illegal activities of the drug culture. Add in the cost to society in terms of a loss in human productivity, drug rehab programs, broken relationships, people who are on Medicaid and SSI because of drug abuse issues and you get the picture.
So let’s just continue to call it a “public health” issue and spend another cool $25 billion on it!
Steve Catman is a business owner, husband, father and grandfather who resides in New Hampshire.
Image: CC0 Creative Commons; https://pixabay.com/en/packs-pile-money-finance-currency-163497/
