Freedom, American Style

Children are free to go without health insurance. Likewise, the homeless are free to go without food. But stepping up to address either situation gets a smack down. President Bush vetoed a bill expanding children's health insurance. And the city of Orlando, Florida outlawed feeding the homeless via its ban on mass feedings in one area.

Having the wrong t-shirt message or bumper sticker on your car at a Bush event, can get you a night in the poky. So much for our vaunted free speech. Travelling by air while in active mental health crisis, frequently gets the person killed. Only the mentally stable have the freedom to fly our unfriendly skies.

I wonder what Jesus would say about all this. It seems distinctly unChristian to not give children access to healing while denying the homeless food opportunities. The folks in Orlando might want to emulate West Texas cattle ranchers. To ensure every cow gets their shot at the food pellets, someone sits on the tailgate with an open bag of feed, dropping the nuggets as the driver keeps moving. That would be difficult to do with soup, unless the Sermon on the Mount fulfilling folks in Orlando borrow a tanker and build a trough ...