Here is an example of how difficult it is to keep everyone happy...on the one hand you complain that it is too difficult and takes months of waiting for someone to get VA Benefits and SSDI...on the other you complain it is TOO EASY for a a system abuser to get SSI and AFDC or General Assistance...so, do we want to set the bar high or low? In other words, do we want far more abuse or do we want to tighten standards and deprive more people of benefits?
I am of the growing opinion that to a large degree centralization is the key to the dilemma. In our effort to get national equanimity in government benefits distribution we have ceded that authority further and further from the beneficiary. We need to reverse centralization and as in move back to the concept of "localization" of services and benefits by local panels and local citizens. They will argue it is costly but would pay huge dividends.
In almost every governmental intervention whether it be education, banking, health, education, welfare and a host of other processes, if you compare the increasing inefficiencies and poor results from operations, there is usually a more direct relationship with centralization and growing inefficiencies and increases in fraud and other corruption. The more centralization, the bigger the numbers and the more temptation to fill ones pocket and the less likely anyone will catch it.
I could go on with a diatribe...education being an example. The further we get from neighborhood schools and the more centralized education becomes, the less bang we get for the buck. And the less educated the masses of students are!!!
Gailon Arthur Joy
AUReporter