Posted on 05/12/2012 7:59:16 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
I’m a Republican. I’m also a compassionate conservative.
That’s why I’m troubled by remarks this week by Maine Gov. Paul LePage suggesting that the unemployed are jobless by choice.
“To all you able-bodied people out there,” he said, during a speech at his state party convention, “Get off the couch, and get yourself a job.”
Well, I understand that the cost of providing unemployment benefits to Maine’s 51,000 jobless is taxing the state’s treasury.
But, I simply don’t believe that most of those out of work in the Pine Tree State– including the able-bodied of whom LePage spoke – prefer government welfare to a full-time job.
LePage is no compassionate conservative. If he were, he would sympathize with the out-of-work. And he would hold the party of Obama accountable for the nation’s jobless recovery.
Indeed, in 2009, Democrats enacted the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the massive $825 billion economic stimulus package that was supposed to create millions of jobs and keep the nation’s unemployment rate below 8 percent.
Three years later, the stimulus has proven a complete failure. The unemployment rate has topped 8 percent a record 38 straight months (and counting). And there are today 740,000 fewer jobs in post-recession America than when Obama moved into the White House.
A close look at the U.S. Labor Department’s April jobs report reveals a labor market that remains in the worst shape since the Great Depression.
Some 12.5 million Americans were officially counted as unemployed. Of those, some 5.1 million were categorized as “long-term unemployed,” meaning they were out of work a half-year or more.
Another 7.9 million Americans were underemployed. They held part-time jobs because they couldn’t find full-time positions.
Then there were 2.4 million persons identified as “marginally attached to the labor force.” They wanted and were available for work, had looked for a job sometime in the previous 12 months, but had not searched for work in the four weeks prior to the jobs survey.
Nearly 1 million of the marginally attached were considered “discouraged workers,” having given up hope of finding work.
When you add the officially unemployed to the underemployed and the marginally attached, you come up with 22.8 million Americans lacking gainful employment.
It is a statistical portrait of pain, hardship and loss. It should move people of faith to compassion for those seeking work. Not to contempt.
That’s why Gov. LePage’s remarks have done damage to the GOP. It makes it appear that those of us who are Republicans lack sympathy for those who are unemployed through no fault of their own; who are victims of the jobless recovery.
Actually I agree with you that the governor’s comments were foolish bluster but not because of sympathy.
My issue is that guys like him tell others to do something while they themselves are the ones with the power to stand up to the feds and their job killing policies but they don’t.
If governors actually got off their butts and actually blocked federal policies that kill jobs, there might not be so many unemployed in the first place.
Some people are unemployed by choice. Some are unemployed by the economy. Some have worked for years at a desk job and lost that job, and are no longer physically suited for physical labor. They are far from disabled, but taking a job as a ditch digger is just not possible anymore. Attempting to turn “the Unemployed” into a monolithic group with one motive and one problem is foolish.
Yeah, let’s have a nanny state. Forget about self reliance, and rugged individualism. Our “poor” have cars, cell phones, air conditioning, food, in some cases, they get more money from the government than a hard working person. I’m tired of this.
“For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).
Christians are not saved by works, but they do show their faith by their works (James 2:18, 26).
There are lazy minds as well as lazy bodies - Richard Saunders (aka Ben Franklin
That is wrong like how?
Your title is really misleading.
You lump all republicans together for what one Gov said
and even further you lumped all unemployed with the ‘ able bodied” the Gov referenced.
Are there jobs available in your state ? maybe jobs involving manual labor or less desireable jobs?
Why shouldn’t he want able bodied people to work?
When they work they relieve strain on busineses that are paying part of their unemployment
and that could free up those businesses to hire more people
so pay attention to what was really said and to the person who actually said it.
Nothing unChristian about wanting able bodied people to work
I agree. If he hates unemployment, he should kick the EPA and NLRB out of his state and open it up for manufacturing without burdensome regulations.
“For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).
Christians are not saved by works, but they do show their faith by their works (James 2:18, 26).
There are lazy minds as well as lazy bodies - Richard Saunders (aka Ben Franklin
That is wrong like how?
Well, you certainly have on your judgmental britches today. Putting aside the Governor’s professed faith for a second - because I think God can figure out his sincerity or lack of it without my help - I would like to dig into the psychosis of being a “compassionate conservative.”
By saying that, you are judging all “normal conservatives” as “compassionless conservatives” which frankly is both morally and intellectually insulting. True conservatism IS compassionate by its very nature - including some “tough love” parts to it.
Thus, I cannot get past your “compassionate conservative” label, which is usually another name for “liberal.” Or, put another way, compassionate conservatism = dispassionate capitulism.” Think about it.
As for the "able-bodied unemployed," they are going on disability at a rate of about a million a year, correlating closely with the end of 99 weeks of benefits, which is why the "Unemployment" rate and number of jobs are both going down at the same time--quite an amazing achievement.
Politically indelicate, but I know tons of people who avoided taking a job until their unemployment ran out. Hear it all the time.
Worth a repeat!!
What part of the descriptive adjective “able bodied” did you not understand?
This is a pretty liberal tactic, bending the language to confuse a real issue. Lets also look at illegal alien = undocumented immigrant, women’s health = free contraception.
If you don’t want to adhere to honest language usage, post elsewhere.
Gov. LePage’s remarks aired repeatedly on the national news. While he is but one Republican, he reinforced the widespread view that Republicans, as a whole, lack compassion.
As to the 22.8 million Americans who are unemployed are underemployed, the vast majority are no doubt able-bodied. Are you suggesting there are 22.8 million readily-available full-time permanent jobs for them all?
Welcome, Newbie/blogger. Was it your intention to join FR in March so you could get hits on your blog? In any event, you take a statement and apply it to Republicans in general. Furthermore, it would be more evenhanded to criticize the Democrats as well, as they haven’t lifted a finger (outside of the worthless stimulus) to help the unemployed. They even prefer to raise taxes during a recession, laden businesses and individuals with thousands of new environmental mandates, and work against a strong national energy policy that would make use of our vast oil resources.
Finally, if someone came to me and bemoaned insufficient aid from the government, I’d tell them the same thing. Government isn’t here to support them. It’s our responsibility to support ourselves and our family. Got it?
Now, if you still have a problem with that, come back on me. You’ll find out just how warm a welcome to FR I can dish out.
Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself
“Social Justice” begins as a 1:1 awareness of
Others Needs/Concerns/Aspirations
Using Government to do this however is
counterproductive, inefficient, and siphons resources from individuals
who can better do acts of Charity at a local level
Acts of Caesar (Government)
Compel, Punish, Take, and Kill
This is what Government does.
A Christian Governor might organize the State so that
Individuals can be efficient in Acts of Love
But otherwise get out of the way.
A family friend was laid off 3 years ago at age 62, health problems(bad knees). Guy worked hard all his life as a service writer at a large dealership that closed down. No one will hire him.
Can get a p/t job but they all require physical movement such at Lowes or Wal Mart which he cannot do.
BSCO, I think we have a “new labels” troll amongst us. Or, a religious lefty.
Amazing how that pesky "human nature" kicks in, ain't it?
Our last Republican president, George W. Bush, described himself as a “compassionate conservative.” Are you suggesting he was liberal, like the Dem who followed him inot the White House?
OH, said the spider to the fly. Welcome to the trap. GWB was NOT a true conservative by any means, and his "compassionate conservative" mess was part of the proof. Any true conservative instinctively knows this term is bogus. That's not to say he didn't hold some conservative positions. He did. It's not to say that he didn't sign some conservative bills. He did. But NO, GWB was in no way, shape or form a true conservative or a movement conservative. He doesn't even understand true conservatism, not the way Reagan does or the way Rush does or Levin does. Nope. And apparently, neither do you.
Seems to me you "misunderestimated" the depth of FR's knowledge. (a little compassionate conservative lingo for you)
Maine is a perfect example. Lord knows how many acres of wilderness are off limits to logging and other utilization due to federal regulation.
That doesn’t mean they have to mow all the trees down, just impose reasonable regulations at the state level. In my state of Michigan we have the same problem. We sit on an ocean of natural gas but the federal great lakes directional drilling ban puts much of it off limits.
I watched an interview with him following his remarks and he said he was raised in the welfare system, that so many generations just think that their life is nothing more than getting a gov’t check because that’s what he saw growing up, and that he managed to get out of it. So he was speaking from experience.
Whatever he/she is, it’s definitely a pimping of his blog. Let’s wait and see if we get any reaction...
Thanks for your welcome. And if my intent was to generate hits for my blog, my posts would be excerpted. And while I am a “Newbie/blogger,” my writings have been posted on FR for more than a decade, as my old friend Jim Robinson can attest.
Anyway, if you actually read my post, you would have seen that I laid blame for the unemployment crisis squarely at the feet of Obama and the Democrats, who passed a gargantuan economic stimulus that failed to deliver on its promises.
And, no, I don’t expect the government to support the jobless-by-choice. But, as a compassionate conservative, I don’t have a problem helping the temporarily needy.
Thanks for your welcome. And if my intent was to generate hits for my blog, my posts would be excerpted. And while I am a “Newbie/blogger,” my writings have been posted on FR for more than a decade, as my old friend Jim Robinson can attest.
Anyway, if you actually read my post, you would have seen that I laid blame for the unemployment crisis squarely at the feet of Obama and the Democrats, who passed a gargantuan economic stimulus that failed to deliver on its promises.
And, no, I don’t expect the government to support the jobless-by-choice. But, as a compassionate conservative, I don’t have a problem helping the temporarily needy.
Well that's obviously the case, but what is more interesting to me is that he/she seems like someone who has just gotten involved and has a perverted view of what true conservatives/tea party type/liberty lovers think and feel. Very sophomoric thought process. I don't mind the blog pimping nearly as much as I am offended by a kindergarten thought process. But that's just me.
Well that's obviously the case, but what is more interesting to me is that he/she seems like someone who has just gotten involved and has a perverted view of what true conservatives/tea party type/liberty lovers think and feel. Very sophomoric thought process. I don't mind the blog pimping nearly as much as I am offended by a kindergarten thought process. But that's just me.
Read my tagline and look the passage up....
I was laid off this past November (11/11/11) due to a reduction in force at the company I worked at. I was a contracts administrator at an aerospace & defense company.
I've been diligently searching for similar work since. I've had a few interviews, but unfortunately no offers yet.
I also have severe back problems - scoliosis and kyphosis so bad that I can probably be officially classified as “disabled” by the state if I so chose. Because of my back problems, most manual labor jobs are more or less out of the question because I can't stand on my feet for more than twenty to thirty minutes at a time without needing to sit or prop myself up on something.
So really, my only options are to continue collection unemployment, and then go to Extended Benefits, while keeping up my job search, or I can just say forget it and go on Disability.
I do have an exciting interview coming up though - I'm interviewing with the U.S. Coast Guard for a position as a Contract Specialist (GS-1102) on Tuesday.
You mean like this?
Obama: 'Sometimes I Forget' Magnitude of the Recession
For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” ... II Thessalonians 3:10
How is it Christian compassion to lower the dignity of a human being to government dependency?
I expected more compassion from Gov. LePage, a professed Christian.
As far as being a compassionate conservative i think those are just words, I can call myself what ever i want and while it might be true it could also be just words. the liberals lie all of the time about how they care, but their actions say just the reverse.
That is why Obama got elected , the republicans started going the same way as the liberals.
Also since The Gov. is getting heat for what he said makes me think there may be some truth to it although he may be looking at government figures which lie.
Let us agree that government should not allow long-term welfare dependency. But should we deny govermment assistance to the temporarily needy?
Make your own way in this world or quit taking up space on the planet!
Yeah, let’s have a nanny state. Forget about self reliance, and rugged individualism. Our “poor” have cars, cell phones, air conditioning, food, in some cases, they get more money from the government than a hard working person. I’m tired of this.
I'm reminded of that awesome quote of President Reagan (RIP!) ....
Constitutionally, the only thing I could support is some sort of budget item to fund faith-based temporary assistance programs in the states. This is the role of family, friends and community. Not government.
I absolutely agree.
What on earth does sympathy have to do with having the government change rules and regulations and laws... and having government divert funds from other important purposes (many of which might also have similar, or greater “sympathies” attached)? Emotional appeals should have very little power in our political discussions. Sadly, this is not so... and is one very large reason for the upcoming trauma that this country will face.
How’s this for satisfying our desire to help the “temporarily needy”? Let’s get government the f*** OUT of the way, allow business to thrive, allow charities to do their works, allow private individuals to keep more of the products of their own labors so that they can help family and friends more directly, allow invention and energy and economics ad entrepreneurship to steer the course of our nation’s path... rather than the sanctimonious morons who thrive on taking power and money and freedom and time and joy away from us every day.
Both parties are culprits. Actually the governor should post all the job vacancies in his State as should anyone else who claims this.
Republicans decry Government dependency but pass laws enhancing the exporting of jobs which creates government dependency. Job exporting companies have off-loaded American employee costs to the government to enhance profits.
Democrats thrive on government dependency and offer placebos like green jobs which they know is not going to solve the job problem.
We have to wait until things get worse, and they will, until another Ross Perot emerges who hears the job sucking sound from unbalanced trade agreements.
Your title is really misleading.
You lump all republicans together for what one Gov said
and even further you lumped all unemployed with the ‘ able bodied” the Gov referenced.
In Arizona there were lots of labor and farm jobs which i had worked at myself, but not many office jobs.
I told 2 or three people ( who sure looked able to me ) about where they could go to work the next day, they just looked down their nose at me, i could not help but thinking, to hell with them.
Conservatism IS Compassion!
Let us agree that government should not allow long-term welfare dependency. But should we deny govermment assistance to the temporarily needy?
Congress can only lay taxes to pay its dept, but of course we know that the fed has been giving millions in grants for years to about any one who knows how to fill out a form of some kind.
If some louse wants to be taken care of by the tax payers all he has to do to get a grant is to get some kind of certificate through some organization that will say he or she is a scientist or some other label.
I would just like to study frog tracks down in the jungles of South America or Archeology out in some beautiful dessert.
But i didn,t get far enough in school to know how to fill out the dam forms.
Finding a job is a full time job. If you’ve done all the searching you can, then the remaining time should be filled with exercising your talents to make a job. If you’ve exhausted that, then spend the remaining time learning, training and practicing to improve your skills.
This “paid 99 week vacation” stuff has got to stop.
They’ve devalued “underemployment” to $0 by paying people to do nothing but a cursory wink-and-a-nod “search”. People should be working what they can and creating value, not loafing and consuming it.
It's also easier to find a job when you already have one......bail out at the first sign of trouble, don't wait until the bitter end.
“Have Republicans No Sympathy For the Jobless? “
“I expected more compassion from Gov. LePage, a professed Christian.”
BS. Sympathy is free. These folks don’t want sympathy, they want somebody elses money because, for whatever reason, they cannot make any of their own.
Let’s just baseline the discussion there. I have plenty of sympathy for the unemployed. Even when I’ve been unemployed myself, like I technically am right now.
I’ve never filed for unemployment, I’ve never whined about it, I’ve never expected anybody else to give me their money. I just took work where I could find it - and never stopped looking.
So, unemployed folks - why do you think you deserve other people’s money? You don’t deserve it, is the answer.
It doesn’t matter why you can’t work or whether you can or not. You either pay your way or you don’t - no excuses needed or accepted. You either do or you don’t.
Now, back to work on that proposal - for, you know, actual work that I’m hoping to get paid to do by someone who needs something done.
In this compassionate conservative world, the really rich and the really poor have the same lifestyle. No work, drugs, free money, illegitimate kids etc.
I was unemployed for four months, worked two jobs, lost those and am now unemployed for almost seven months. I was given a large severance check when I was laid off after 19-1/2 years and do receive unemployment.
While I have interviewed several times and would have gladly taken those positions, I find that I have difficulty being considered because of my age (55), the pay rate I once made and the technology I specialized in is now considered "legacy" (a nice word for "outdated").
Because of my resources, I can be a little choosy with job openings but the truth is I've yet to be considered for a job that paid well below what I used to make. It's assumed I won't take them or will flee as soon as something better comes along.
So, I'm unemployed even though I would like to work but I can't take "little" jobs to get off unemployment because a) it would mean less money than what I make on unemployment and b) no wants to hire me for those jobs anyway.
I'm not too proud to go work at a convenience store or a customer service job but they won't hire people with IT skills for those jobs when they can hire someone with half the education and probably retain them longer than they would me.
It's a big "catch 22" so I am praying that the right position will open up and that the Lord will place me there. It's really the only thing I can do.
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