Chris Jepson: Start paving today

Ah, good intentions. We can’t let good intentions get in the way of bad paving, now can we? Last week I wrote on making safe, affordable and accessible birth control as ubiquitous as M&M’s. I argued that rising welfare costs, low-wage jobs, and environmental desecration are exacerbated by the rising number of impoverished Americans. Any population increase for that matter degrades the environment. I asked, rhetorically, how many impoverished Americans are “you” willing to support?

On the Observer website, the individual, Sawit Start, suggested, after reading my column that, “FDR meant well when he launched the Relief Program which morphed into Welfare. 
We all know what road is paved with good intentions and I am afraid that's where our country is going if we don't get off this road.”

That is an interesting idea, that somehow a road (any endeavor) paved in good intentions is not only suspect, but leads to hell.

I am by inclination, upbringing and learning, a libertarian. I genuinely do not want to support those capable of sustaining themselves. I do not get dewy-eyed over the unborn and am not typically moved to tears by the travails of the sick, infirm or mentally challenged (Republicans? I joke, I jest). Such stories are inherently part of the human condition.

That said, everyone here, every American is part of the home team. If you are a U.S. citizen, it behooves us as a culture to make sure that all Americans are well nourished, have medical care, educational opportunities and “decent” housing. If that “be” good intentions, start paving today. But it needn’t be to hell we go.

The American population is approximately 315 million citizens, well on the way to 400 million this century. I personally view more humanity on the planet a pox and that Mother Earth will inevitably correct the human population imbalance. Regardless, from a public policy standpoint, we need to be looking 35 to 50 years out at a minimum. This conversation is challenging, particularly if you believe, as do I, that environmental desecration will accelerate all human problems exponentially.

Pick any percentage of the American population, but for the sake of this conversation, let’s say 15 percent of our fellow citizens are incapable of completely sustaining themselves. That is the entire populations of Florida and Texas combined. Good intentions have us (collectively as a people) striving to make the quality of life for those Americans acceptable.

Reducing the percentage of poor (through wise family planning and government incentives) is sound public policy. If, in 35 years, we have fewer people on the dole, are we not better off as a nation?

The ax I have to grind with the GOP is that Republicans do not offer any credible solutions – other than tax cuts and to eliminate regulations – for what ails America. If, for example, trade agreements (see: NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership now being negotiated) mean fewer well-paid jobs in America, with a further reduction in America’s middle class, what are the long-term Republican solutions (intentions?) for displaced workers, their families and communities? Don’t like The Affordable Care Act? Fine. Please spell-out for America how Republicans will insure America. And why, seemingly, some Americans are unworthy of coverage.

Good intentions don’t lead to hell. Defeatism, hypocrisy, indifference and scapegoating do.

We need better men and women planning America’s roadwork. If the road leads to hell, I recommend a course correction. And that doesn’t mean throwing anyone under the bus. Literally or metaphorically.