The Gimme Sump'n World

Originally published in "Mutterings and Musings," the week of January 9, 2000

The easiest philosophy to teach is Socialism. The easiest economic system to teach is "Gimme Sump'n." The philosophy of Socialism and the economics of Gimme Sump'n go together. The preachers of Socialism, which include most of our nation's teachers, many without even knowing what they are teaching, are following the line that there is something free out in the world waiting for the lucky claimant to come by and pick the apple off the tree.*

My first experience with the Gimme Sump'n world was in 1939 when a lady came to our school in Benton County and announced that Mr. Roosevelt's Government was going to provide a "free" lunch for all the kids because we were poor and it was obvious our parents couldn't properly provide for us. So, a cook was hired and a place was made for a cooking stove, for which all of us male students had to cut and split wood. The Government sent cans of vitamin stuffed beans, beets, sauerkraut and boxes of cheese for soup and sandwiches.

Cherry Grove School, Benton Co., TN, 1940-41 school year,
Jim's not in the picture, but the names sure sound familiar
Click on the link above for an interesting genealogy blog

Before this, I brought my lunch to school in a half gallon syrup bucket. Lunch was a fried egg and biscuit sandwich with ham, sausage, or beef tenderloin. Sometimes I had biscuits with sugar and butter. We were nearly starving, Mr. Roosevelt's government said.

If the student could afford it, the "free" lunch cost one nickel. If not, then there was no charge. Someone paid for it, but the student didn't. He was fooled into thinking that his lunch was free. The cost was covered by the government, the Government being some faceless person, like a Santa Claus. I was 25 before I outgrew this teaching. I know people over 65 who haven't outgrown it yet.

This brings us to healthcare in Tennessee. I'm encountering too many people old enough to know better who think everybody in the State is entitled to healthcare, whether they can pay for it or not.

There is a 14 year old eighth grader in Carroll County whose mother is being treated at a hospital. He thinks the "Government" is paying for her care. To this boy, the Government is not his neighbor or any other taxpayer. The Government is Don Sundquist and all the other elected officials. He thinks these men are taking money from their own pockets and paying for his mother's care. He doesn't know why he thinks this. That's what he's always thought and no teacher has ever explained anything else to him.

Perhaps if he had to go to the hospital and mop the floors in payment for his mother's care, as my schoolmates and I had to cut the wood to fuel the stove for our "free" lunch, he might be educated as to why each person providing their own healthcare is important. Sadly, many churches are teaching the same Socialist line without telling their members/students that God gets His funding from the same source that funds the Government.


* Editor's note: As a public school teacher and the author's liberal daughter, I take exception to this sweeping generalization, as I often did throughout the decades that we debated the ways and whims of this world. But, since this is his column, I'll limit my comment on this aspersion about the political afflictions of teachers to concede that, yes, there are simple minded teachers who are responsible for educating our children, just as there are simple minded preachers who lead their flocks down garbled paths, but simple minded thinking is kind of like brown hair. It's everywhere; it isn't limited to any ethnic group, culture, class or political philosophy.