Stagecoach Tickets

In our bible study book (see a previous article ~ Truthiness) there is this wonderful story about stagecoach tickets: 1^st Class, 2^nd Class and 3^rd Class tickets. If you had 1 class stagecoach tickets in the old west you got to sit no matter what; if the coach threw a wheel you just sat in the coach and waited till it was fixed. If you had 2^nd class ticket you had to get out of the coach and watch while they fixed the wheel or whatever. However, if you had a 3^rd class ticket, you had to get out and help them change the wheel or whatever.

Now the author of the book points out the number of people in churches who seem to believe they have 1^st class tickets in church. These were ones I knew well in my ministry. They could come up with all types of programs the church should be providing for them, so they could make use of them, but the idea of actually working in a program was beyond their comprehension. There were even more with 2^nd class tickets who loved to stand on the sidelines and tell other folk who were working on programs how they should do it differently, better, or it was wrong or we never did it that way before. And finally, there is the 10% of church members that actually get everything done, 3^rd class ticket holders.

When I read that story it got me to thinking about how folk look at “entitlement programs.” Entitlement programs are those government programs that provides individuals with legal personal benefits. Usually these are individuals but also some organizations get them as well. Since the 1980s entitlement programs are believed to account for half of all Federal spending (I didn’t fact check this).  Here’s a list:

Government Entitlement Programs

Combined Federal, State and Local Welfare Budget, 1992 (millions)

Medicaid $118,067
AFDC 24,923
Food Stamps 24,918
Supplemental Security Income 22,774
Lower income housing asst. 12,307
Earned Income Tax Credit 9,553
Veterans medical care 7,838
Stafford loans 5,683
Social Services (Title 20) 5,419
Pell Grants 5,374
Low-rent public housing 5,008
General medical assistance 4,850
Foster Care 4,170
School Lunch 3,895
Pensions for needy veterans 3,667
General Assistance 3,340
Head Start 2,753
Food supplements, Women, infants and children 2,600
Training for disadvantaged youth and adults 1,744
Low-income energy assistance 1,594
Rural housing loans 1,468
Indian Health Services 1,431
Summer youth employment 1,183
Maternal and child health 1,059
JOBS and WIN 1,010
Job Corps 955
Child care block grant 825
School Breakfast 782
Child care for AFDC 755
Nutrition Program for Elderly 659
Housing interest reduction 652
Child and adult care food program 624
"At risk" child care 604

A number of folk just sit in the stagecoach and don’t have a clue of what the entitlement programs are; the Republican riders are usually against them and the Democrat riders are generally for them. The 2^nd class stagecoach riders get out and look at them and if they are Republican or Democrat when they look at them individually they generally want them and least in some amount or form. Then there are the 3^rd class stagecoach riders that are involved in the programs either and recipients or as providers. These are the ones you really want to pay attention to if you want to get America’s stagecoach repaired and on the road again.