Posted on 12/25/2011 11:21:40 PM PST by Hetty_Fauxvert
Remarkable that he could pay all those hospital bills and still send $56 per month on such a small income.
This was a private donation to what sounds like a private charity. Not US foreign aid to some faceless,useless NGO.
But your overall point is a good one. US Gubmint foreign aid to the third world is about as useful as handing a $20 to the drunk with a sign on the off ramp.
Group homes for the mentally ill seem like a better solution than the old large institutions but there doesn’t seem to be enough money for all of the people who need them. There is money for all kinds of abuse and nonsense but not for the people who are truly in need.
The first thing, as a conservative and a Christian, believe is that we need to show mercy and kindness to our weaker brethren. However, we are also bound by the laws of economics to be kind within boundaries that we can afford.
It’s nice, if we can put people in homes, with back yards and swingsets and such. It’s just a question as to, when you consider all societal responsibilities, whether we can afford idealized solutions to problems or if we have to give more practical solutions to the problems in society.
If we can honestly afford group homes for mentally ill and deficients, then we should. However, if it is at the expense of our economic integrity to give an idealized solution to so a societal problem, then we have to be more practical minded and do what we are able to do.
I don’t believe, personally, that the institutions were the problems, as opposed to the, sometimes, barbaric psychiatric practices within them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.