What if Jesus did NOT die for your sins? You are responsible for all of your own actions. There is no one else to blame or cajole into covering for you. I am not suggesting that Jesus did not live or is or is not the son of God. Just that you are in fact responsible for yourselves.

What if you could do whatever you want assuming that you yourself will have to pay the price? There is no forgiveness for being mean or murderous, idle, sloppy and slothful, and wasteful. There is no forgiveness for being a thief, a liar, a drunkard, a junkie, a dealer. You will have to pay the piper.

What if no one has your back? They will run if you have serious problems. The government (meaning people supported by taxes paid by the working people around you) will not cover your debt and your cost of living for beyond a few years while you get training and get a job. Taxpayers will not give you and your family welfare for five generations.

What if you have to think for yourself, be responsible for yourself, and be responsible for anything you create, whether it is good or bad? You will have to raise your own children and fund them. There is no funding from the government or any church in any meaningful way. You are on your own.

As I write this, I know there are groups of people who are going to be upset and say “You don’t know how we’ve suffered.” There will be people who insist that I don’t know what it’s like because of my color, my race, my sex, as though these comments were derivative of anything other than truth.

What if I suggest to you that if you think someone is a bigot or racist just because they are white or male or female or anything means that YOU are a bigot or racist?

Sorry, if you are the third or fourth or fifth generation of your family still on welfare, you have only learned to rely on others to care for you. You are not contributing to the betterment of anything. If you have children, you are bringing them up as second-class citizens. Why would you want to do that? I don’t care what your excuse is. Unless you have generations of physically disabled people in your family, which seems highly unlikely, you’ve learned to be lazy and useless.

You listen to lies to make your life work: Have babies. God will support you. That’s the church wanting you to have more babies so they have a larger economic base. The more church-going people, the more money the church will have.

You listen to lies to justify your generations of anger.

Grow up. America is among the world’s remarkable countries. It has been and is being built by the hard work of generations of immigrants. There are many opportunities for everyone. Look at the people who fight to come here illegally to find work to make a living for their families. I don’t agree with illegal entry as it automatically makes that person a criminal, whether or not they feel that way, but wanting to find work to survive is noble. I also have problems with those who come here to have their babies ‘cause that automatically makes the babies Americans and eligible for welfare and our population is growing so quickly that this will destroy the things we all came her for in the first place.

During a conference in San Francisco, a grandmother who was taking care of her grandchildren was being complimented for her “dedication to family.” She had been and still was on welfare. While accepting the accolades being bestowed on her, with tears in her eyes she talked about how difficult it was and how “the system” ruined the lives of her own children, all of whom were on drugs or in jail, and how she “had” to raise her grandchildren because of “the system” that ruined the lives of her children.

This is ludicrous. Children of welfare parents have to be embarrassed by their conditions and it is their parents – not “the system” – that helped get them into ongoing welfare. Children are naturally conservative and welfare is out of bounds. Welfare for those who do not deserve it as a temporary measure is living a lie.

The crippling effect of welfare was made manifest during the horrendous tidal wave that hit Louisiana. The world watched as thousands of people left town and others stayed waiting for help to come. When no help came, the people who had been used to being taken care of their whole lives by the system had to figure out what to do. And they brilliantly did so. Several days into the inundation, the world watched as two mothers found plastic, watertight crab containers, put their children in those containers and waded through waist-high water to get their families to safety.

This was probably viewed as a matter of course by most, but my view was that people rose to the occasion to help themselves only when there was no other way but to help themselves. And they can help themselves.

What if, for the first child you have for which you seek welfare, you are paid, say, $800 a month – which is the going rate in California – and for every child after that, the money you get decreases say to $400, then $200, then you have to be sterilized if you are still on welfare in order to receive any more money at all AND you have to get to work within one year? The system needs changing.

To be continued . . .