A letter that appeared on August 15, 2007 on the Voices page of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette was sort of comical since the writer was mostly confused about chickens coming home to roost. He ended his letter in the following way:  In the preamble to our Constitution, we set forth many worthy things for our government to do, but we seem to be forgetting that it takes tax revenue to do them.  The writer is obviously making reference to the many and varied social programs that the politicians have enacted into law. But he is wrong in his assumption. The Preamble says: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Then in Article I, Section 8, the powers of Congress relative to those items in the Preamble are set forth. They effectively place limits on the powers of Congress by setting forth their responsibilities for limited government. Nowhere can any provision be found for chickens and roosts.

Now that last sentence may not make sense, but when the opening of the letter is understood, the meaning should be clear. The opening is thusly:  Aw, those chickens are following the old rule and coming home to roost. This ancient rule, dating way back into history, holds that if flawed economic and other theories are continually put into practice, certain undesirable results are sure to follow. The poor fellow doesn’t understand the truth of his words. We are reaping the products of flawed economics that began with FDR’s New Deal. Farm subsidies, the minimum wage, welfare of all descriptions, loans for education, housing subsidies, and higher taxes on the government definition of the “rich” and … well you, good reader, add to the list. Those are flawed economic policies providing for roosting chickens, but the writer wasn’t making reference to those government programs. No, he was referring to the lower taxes and the decrease in the funding of all the wonderful “we are here to help you” programs. He doesn’t understand that the government is the problem and wants to expand the number of chickens heading for the government roost.

Government help spawned in the New Deal economics of FDR has kept millions of people dependent on the government. When the aid they receive is cut off of diminished, they cluck like chickens looking for a handout. Unlike real chickens that lay eggs and are themselves a food source, the government fed chickens produce nothing and only burden those who are forced to feed them. The apostle Paul wrote to his fellow Christians in 2 Thessalonians 3:10: For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 11  For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Since Paul’s words were written to Christians, shouldn’t the principal of providing for oneself and family apply to all citizens in this nation who are capable of working? Is it not clear now why the founders didn’t include chickens and roost in the Constitution? They knew the value of work which will lift the poorest man and woman out of poverty.

The liberals of this nation want the producers to provide more troughs, more chicken feed, and more and bigger roosts to accommodate the wished for larger numbers of chickens who will come home to the roost. That sounds so compassionate and the chickens that fall for the ruse will cluck contentedly as they line up at the trough for their daily ration. In Sorting It Out, the solution is to cut off the chicken feed and tear down the government subsidized roosts. Then the chickens will be forced to scratch for their own food and go home at the end of the day to their own self provided roost.

© 08-15-2007 DEC