Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Essential to stop what's not working

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 26, 2023)




Whenever a government program is failing, the instinct of those who work in government is to do more of it. They insist on spending more money on it; finding ways to be more involved and controlling. It's a bad instinct and leads to bigger failures. Eventually, failures so big they cause a collapse. It's only a matter of time and degree.

One recent example in the news involves schools. Schools fail to educate adequately, so government sentences the school inmates-- sometimes called "students"-- to even more hours of what isn't working. Cutting into more of the students' lives; further reducing their valuable free time. Free time is essential and schools aren't designed to educate anyway.

This failure doesn't only apply to school systems, though. It's the same old story over and over again whenever government gets involved in anything.

Anti-gun legislation causes crime to increase, so legislation addicts double down and do more of what drives the problem. They apparently don't care as long as they can sound enlightened and concerned when speaking to the misinformed public on television.

Welfare and other social programs, supposedly implemented to fight poverty, caused more poverty and trapped families in a cycle of poverty for generations. So, obviously, the solution is to do more of the same?

Prohibition has increased the strength of the drugs available and directly created cartels and crime. Instead of abandoning something which has failed as hard as anything can fail, the prohibitionists choose to make things worse with even more penalties.

Pick any government program and the story is the same.

Do they not see the results of their policies? Or, is this level of failure acceptable as long as it looks like they're "doing something" and keeps the tax money flowing into the coffers, keeping politicians without any useful skills off the streets?

I understand-- it is hard to admit you've been doing something stupid; something which is making a problem you claim you want to solve worse than ever. It's hard to change course, especially if you're part of an institution which wants to present itself as the adult option. Government is still institutionalized failure.

It's essential to stop doing what's not working. It's unforgiveable to insist on doing more of it, harder than before, rather than admit you're the problem. If something is imporant in any way, it's too important to allow government to be involved. Unless you prefer to fail.
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I couldn't do this without your support.

Update to the surgery bleg- Updated 5-13


I figured it was time to update the surgery bleg.

Added 4-28-2023: I got one hospital bill, so the revised total I currently owe is now... right at $6,500. It could be worse, but I don't know if that's the entire thing yet, or if more bills will be arriving.

ADDED 5-13-2023: Got another bill, this one from the anesthesia department. I'm going backward! Ugh.

[The following paragraph is outdated, but I will leave it.]
At the moment, the amount I borrowed for the surgery and still owe is just over $3,100 (but see the above note). I haven't started getting bills from the hospital yet-- they've been busy sending me "satisfaction surveys" instead (don't worry: I rated them highly). I guess they want to get the satisfaction surveys out of the way before they start sending bills. Probably a smart move.

Medically, I'm doing well.

I stopped bleeding (due to the catheterization) about 2 weeks after the surgery. The catheter was by far the worst part of the ordeal. The pain from the incisions was never too bad-- the pain from the laparoscopic inflation was worse and longer lasting, but it was gone about a week after surgery. I finally stopped itching in the incision areas about 2 days ago. The scars are minimal. Everything seems to be working fine.

My blood pressure has even dropped to normal in the aftermath; whether that will last is unknown. It had stayed high ever since the kidney stone over 8 years ago, until this surgery. No idea why it came down.

I'm going to keep this post pinned to the top of the sidebar for a while. I know it's annoying, but I really need to keep this reminder up until I either get it all paid off or give up.

So, if you want to help, and if you can, please do. You can give through GiveSendGo or at my regular PayPal or through Venmo.

And share my GiveSendGo or this blog post anywhere you think might generate some interest. Thank you. Really!

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