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Addicted to O.P.M.

By Theresa Camoriano

Our country is suffering from a terrible addiction, and we need to recognize the problem and kick the habit before it is too late.  This addiction is a craving for and dependence on O.P.M. (other people’s money). 

Unfortunately, the O.P.M. addiction is widespread throughout the population, affecting rich, poor and middle class, urban, rural and suburban, old, young and middle age as well.  It seems that almost everyone has a hand out, trying to reach into someone else’s pocket for a fix. 

So what difference does it make whether we spend our own money or rely on O.P.M.?  It makes a very big difference.  Relying on O.P.M. results in a great waste of resources, because we never spend O.P.M. as carefully as we spend money that we earned ourselves.  And when money is wasted, the result is fewer job opportunities, lower income, and a lower standard of living than if the money were put to its best use.  We may feel as if we are getting something for nothing, and sticking it to someone else, like “the rich” or “the smokers” or “the big corporations”, but, in the end, there is no free lunch.  We always end up paying the piper, and the more addicted we are to O.P.M., the more we end up paying.  As P.J. O’Rourke says, If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it is free!

So who is addicted to O.P.M.?

*Parents who think they are getting a “free” education for their children.  but end up paying far more in taxes than they would have to pay in tuition.  And the education turns out to be an indoctrination of their children, teaching them to be good, politically correct sheep rather than teaching them to read, calculate, and problem-solve for themselves.

*University professors, who are dependent on state and federal funds for the majority of their income, and researchers, who must be careful to reach the right findings if they want more government grant money.

*Farmers, who are told what they can plant and where.

*Large corporations, who get special incentives in order to locate in a particular area or who lobby for special regulations that give them an edge over their competition.  However, just as quickly as one regulation can benefit them, another can cut their legs out from under them, quickly putting them out of business.

*Welfare recipients, who have social workers looking over their shoulders at everything they do, whose children are deprived of having fathers active in their lives in order to keep those checks coming in, and who often remain dependent and helpless for generations.

The list goes on and on, and the results are tragic.  It’s time for us to kick our O.P.M. habit and become strong, productive, and independent Americans again.

(Note:  The Kentucky legislature is looking everywhere for more money to plug its budget shortfall.  Why doesn’t it just legalize marijuana, which is said to be the state’s largest crop, and then tax that revenue?  This would have the added benefit of greatly reducing the number of people we have to support in our prisons, while freeing law enforcement to go after dangerous criminals.)

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