The Rights of Man: A founding father discusses Child Benefits and Social Security

Thomas Paine should be well-known to anyone who has even a superficial knowledge of the founding of our country. His work "Common Sense" was one of the driving forces behind the colonies' eventual declaration of their independence, and his series "The American Crisis" ("These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman") are regarded with almost religious reverence by patriotic citizens. They are also rather entertaining, if you are interested in that sort of thing. A close associate of the authors of the Constitution, he was dedicated to the principles therein and wished everyone to have the benefits he perceived as resulting from our form of government.

This is why he wrote and published "The Rights of Man," returning to his native country of England for the purpose. One Edmund Burke had written a pamphlet about how rotten the French revolution was and how wonderful it was to have an aristocracy and a king. This made Thomas Paine quite angry, and led to the aforementioned text about how rotten having a hereditary government was in that it crushed the natural rights of man. This in turn led to him being condemned to death in England, but, having left to France, Thomas Paine was unavailable to receive this recognition of his literary accomplishments.

In the following quotes, Paine has, for the time being, finished explaining how the aristocracy and monarchy were simply drains on the financial resources of the country, the only contribution in return being mismanagement and self-serving policies, crushing the natural, inalienable rights. This being the case, he argues that they must be tossed out. After getting rid of the aristocracy and monarchy and lowering unneeded expenditures on various government functions, he notes that there will suddenly be many pounds of taxes now in excess. That he suggests that the taxes then be lowered should not come as a surprise to anyone, nor that he suggests that more of it be used to reduce national debt. What he proposes next may come as a surprise:

"It is easily seen, that the poor are generally composed of large families of children, and old people past their labour. If these two classes are provided for, the remedy will so far reach to the full extent of the case, that what remains will be incidental, and, in a great measure, fall within the compass of benefit clubs, which, though of humble invention, merit to be ranked among the best of modern institutions..."

"Having thus ascertained the greatest number that can be supposed to need support on account of young families, I proceed to the mode of relief or distribution, which is,

To pay as a remission of taxes to every poor family, out of the surplus taxes, and in room of poor-rates, four pounds a year for every child under fourteen years of age; enjoining the parents of such children to send them to school, to learn reading, writing, and common arithmetic; the ministers of every parish, of every denomination to certify jointly to an office, for that purpose, that this duty is performed. The amount of this expense will be,

    For six hundred and thirty thousand children
     at four pounds per annum each                    L2,520,000

"By adopting this method, not only the poverty of the parents will be relieved, but ignorance will be banished from the rising generation, and the number of poor will hereafter become less, because their abilities, by the aid of education, will be greater. Many a youth, with good natural genius, who is apprenticed to a mechanical trade, such as a carpenter, joiner, millwright, shipwright, blacksmith, etc., is prevented getting forward the whole of his life from the want of a little common education when a boy..."

"Besides these there will be constantly thrown off from the revolutions of that wheel which no man can stop nor regulate, a number from every class of life connected with commerce and adventure."

"To provide for all those accidents, and whatever else may befall, I take the number of persons who, at one time or other of their lives, after fifty years of age, may feel it necessary or comfortable to be better supported, than they can support themselves, and that not as a matter of grace and favour, but of right, at one-third of the whole number, which is one hundred and forty thousand, as stated in a previous page, and for whom a distinct provision was proposed to be made..."

"To pay to such person of the age of fifty years, and until he shall arrive at the age of sixty, the sum of six pounds per annum out of the surplus taxes, and ten pounds per annum during life after the age of sixty. The expense of which will be,

    Seventy thousand persons, at L6 per annum      L  420,000
    Seventy thousand persons, at L10 per annum        700,000
                                                      ———-
                                                   L1,120,000

"This support, as already remarked, is not of the nature of a charity but of a right. Every person in England, male and female, pays on an average in taxes two pounds eight shillings and sixpence per annum from the day of his (or her) birth; and, if the expense of collection be added, he pays two pounds eleven shillings and sixpence; consequently, at the end of fifty years he has paid one hundred and twenty-eight pounds fifteen shillings; and at sixty one hundred and fifty-four pounds ten shillings. Converting, therefore, his (or her) individual tax in a tontine, the money he shall receive after fifty years is but little more than the legal interest of the net money he has paid; the rest is made up from those whose circumstances do not require them to draw such support, and the capital in both cases defrays the expenses of government."

Here Thomas Paine argues for a measure to reduce child poverty and provide for those that are past their prime, issues that are not irrelevant to our discussions in class. Or is this irrelevant? Does it have any bearing on what we are discussing in class? Does his treatment on poverty back then relate in any way to poverty today? Does his suggestion to support children in poverty with a yearly amount taken from taxes surprise anyone? How about the financial support of the elderly as a "right?" I am very interested to hear your reactions and comments.

Easter, Immigration, and Retirement

I thought these were prevalent with Easter on its way and our topics for the week.

Should we Praise or Not?

http://www.nea.org/home/42298.htm

My mom, an educator, sent me this article. It talks about how generally praising children (i.e.: You're so smart) can often work to the child's detriment. Being specific in praise (i.e.: You worked so hard on that painting) can be more beneficial. This article was very interesting, especially with the 'Tiger Mom' article in mind. Where do we draw the line? Is there a line to be drawn? Should there be a policy implemented in the school systems where teachers can only use specific types of praise? If so, what if certain children (those with disabilities) never hear praise because they don't seem to be as good as the other students? What are your thoughts?

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Families

I'm posting a story about a family that recently had an encounter with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department here in Logan, Utah. I'm looking forward to next weeks debate. One morning a man opened his door to go to work and found four men from the ICE department waiting for him. Before taking him away they gave his wife a number she could call to find out information about where he would be. Later that day she received a phone call from him letting her know that he was in Salt Lake and to try to get a lawyer. That evening my husband and I went to visit her after hearing what had happened. She was very distraut - beside herself. She did not know what was going to happen to her husband, to her, or their daughter. She was a stay at home mom and did not have any money. She didn't even have access to her husband's bank accounts. She didn't completely understand why her husband was taken away since he did have a work permit. The number she was given was useless to her because she did not speak English. The next day I offered to call to see if I could help her get someone who knew Spanish to let her know what was happening. When I called and asked if they had someone who spoke Spanish that she could speak to, they said they did not. The lady also informed me that if someone wanted to call a United States government office, they should know English. I then asked if there was some other resource that they offered when the family does not know English. I also became flustered and asked if they had a resource for the families, a way to make sure the children were okay and not abandoned. I recovered my cool and proceeded to ask for the general process that detainees went through. I knew I could not get specific information because I was not family. But I hoped to be able to inform her of the process so she could have an idea of what was happening. She said it would take about a month to process his papers for deportation. She also gave away information about him, saying that he had not been interviewed by them yet, he was just in jail. So I asked something about if they provide a list of lawyers for him to contact. And she said that he would not need one. He is getting deported there is no question. I asked if he had rights, she said no. So needless to say I finished the call very frustrated. I am not meaning to focus this account on whether the man was at fault or not. I just want to illustrate the difficulties that the family goes through. She was left in the dark. Yes he called her, but he did not know much himself. She was ready to pack things up and leave to her parents' house - she was going to be left without a breadwinner, and a husband. She had a daughter to take care of and figured she needed to take action. In the end, she moved out of her apartment that weekend. One or two weeks later, he was released and they are now back together again. So fyi, yes he got a lawyer, yes he had rights, and now he's home. So what would have happened if he was a single dad? Sure he would have been able to make that phone call to tell someone, but what about the hours in between? If there was no immediate family who would the child have gone to? What about the trauma to that child? I will be looking at ICE's policies pertaining to this area. I'll let you know if I find any. I will also be researching reports on the Swift company's ICE raids and what happened then. In the mean time, do you think that the ICE department or the INS department has a responsibility here? Should there be policies in place that better inform the family no matter the language they speak, or can't. Should there be policies that require them to contact a resource to inform the family? By resource, I mean some kind of agency that helps these families? Lastly, I wonder what you think should happen to the children of individuals who are deported and no other parent is around? Should they be sent to their parent's country? I should look up the story about that Cuban boy - I can't remember his name. Well, I look forward to your replies.

Utah refusing extension of unemployment benefits

I was surprised when I read the title. After reading the article, I understand why a little more. Not really sure what I think though. I think for some people it's been really hard to find a job and 13 more weeks would be pretty beneficial. I think I'd offer it to people but attach some pretty tight strings to the money I didn't agree with the comment that it's not the role of government to provide jobs for people. I think if the government can find jobs for people until they can find better jobs, that would be a good thing. I don't agree with just giving them money without having them work for it. Especially right now when unemployment is still pretty high and it's hard to find work for some people. Giving them a temporary job that contributes to society, could make it easier for them to find a real job. I wouldn't pay a ton so they want to find a new job, but a little more than welfare amounts. That way they have the incentive to work, but also the incentive not to stay with that job forever.

"abortion culture" to blame for Social Security woes

I saw this and thought of the upcoming entitlement program discussion. The statement from Santorum is a little surprising but it brings up a lot of issues, like abortion, social security, and the declining birthrate.
I kind of liked Santorum until I read this comment. I disagree with his statement, but it is interesting considering China's recent proposed relaxation of the one child policy. We talked in class about European countries birthrate problems. I think I recently read the the US birthrate dropped below replacement levels(not considering immigration and also the impact of the recession). I wonder if the US needs to be concerned about birthrates?

Women vs Walmart

We've been talking about gender equality in the workplace a bit and thought this might be interesting. What implications does this issue have for families?

What role does religion play and what role should religion play in family policy?

When I was reading articles on the immigration bill for my family issue paper, I was interested to find multiple references to the LDS church, one of which I have provided. According to the articles, various people supposedly representing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (I say supposedly because certain experiences have led me to question journalists as reliable witnesses) were involved in an entity called the Utah Compact, which was involved in getting the recent immigration bills passed. It has been stated that the main interest of the LDS church in this issue was the preservation of family units, something that new bills do address. The articles state that the LDS church is responsible, at least in part, for this aspect of the legislation. As religion has been implicitly or explicitly related to multiple entries on this blog, I would like to pose the admittedly delicate question that makes up the title of this entry: what role do you all think religion does play and what role should it play in family policy?

Students will pay more as state support erodes

This article might be of interest to all of us because we are going to college now and most likely will want our children to obtain an affordable education themselves. This article points out that college tuition has doubled in the past decade. Looking into the future, it seems like the price will continue to rise. What are some solutions to help make a college education affordable to everyone while the state's budget continues to tighten?

Ron's opinion of government

This is a clip from the show Parks and Rec. I thought of this during our class discussion on state and federal government involvement. Enjoy the whole clip, but the part I'm referring to is at the end. It starts at 4:05 and ends at 4:30.