I took the night off. A public meeting was scheduled to discuss what the people wanted to do with federal CDBG and HOME funding. I attended two of these seminars in former years. People come in and say they want home mortgages, they want three bedrooms, they want big kitchens, etc. Then, they look at me like I’m an evil Martian for sticking up for the folks shouldering the expenses; especially, the working poor. After all, those people who support the economy and pay taxes are “greedy developers.”

These exercises in the past have defined poverty as a percentage of median income, not as any amount of hunger or nakedness. The poor people in public housing enjoy amenities my neighbors, my coworkers, and I cannot justify purchasing for ourselves. I do not want to subsidize the mortgage for somebody who can’t pay for home maintenance or even manage her finances. I do not want the feds to become the surrogate husband for a whole population of teens that can’t figure out where the babies are coming from. I don’t want to pay rent for people who would rather spend their income on fashion or habits. Government, after all, has a record of failing to understand fund transfers.

And, definitely, the victims didn’t want to hear the evil Martian once again spew jabberwocky about government regulation raising the cost of housing. No. Intelligent people do not look at supply-side economics, or second-order effects. What matters is that government creates a vibrant synergy of the I-wants in our community. For our neighbors, our families, and our children. Moving together, as a team, into the Twenty-First Century. 22.7% of the $9.117 trillion federal deficit is owed to foreign and international, interests. Ho hum.

Today is the day we celebrate Veteran’s Day. People died to protect the freedoms nobody seems to want anymore, anyway.