Coming back from my haitus, I thought I would shar a story with you.

It's early one morning, 6:00 to be exact, and we find John reaching over to hit the off button on his alarm clock.  UGH!  Another day.  He staggers into his living room and pushed the button on his remote to turn on the TV.  It has been much nicer watching TV with his new Digital Converter box that he only had to pay $10 for since the government gave him a $40 voucher.  He turned it on just in time to catch the weather.  He was really glad that he did, because the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service were predicting storms that day.  He needed to be ready. 

After his hot shower (he loved his shower now, buecause he bought one of thoese instant hot water systems and even got a rebate back from the governement because he was saving water), he got dressed and went for some breakfast.  He reached into the refrigerator and grabbed the milk.  WIC was a big help, especially since milk was now almost $4.00 a gallon.  However, as he thought about it, $4 wasn't so bad, after all, the government had to ensure that the dairy farmers made a good living too.  . 

Soon everyone in the family was up, and he was going to have to leave for work.  He helped his children get dressed, argued with his children about what they were going to wear, gave them the same milk and cereal, paid for by WIC, that he had, and sent them out the door to the bus stop.  One, Two, Three,  the third wasn't there.  "Hurry up" he yelled to his daughter.  "I'm not going to waste my time, or gas driving you to school today when the bus comes and picks you up for free!!"  And, just in time, she ran to meet the bus, but not before he handed her $1.50 for lunch.  With the reduced lunch program, it was more convenient to just give her $1.50 rather than make something every day.

John smiled as he backed out of the driveway.  A free education, who could ask for anything else, plus, his wife was free to do volunteer work at the food pantry, especially since they got the grant from the governement for faith based iniatives.  She was going to, however, pick the youngest up from the day care center early today (boy that tax credit finally made it affordable) so she could meet the Parents as Teachers volunteer at their house.  Plus, she had to pick up the middle child early from school to take them to the health department for their $5 vaccinations.

John settled in to his desk and began his day.  It wasn't long until his boss came by with his paycheck.  He looked it over and, as usual, was frustrated with all the taxes taken out, what what could one do?  Over his lunch break he stopped at the bank, his FDIC insured bank, and deposited the check.   He wished his check was bigger, but working for a small company made things difficult.  Fortunately, his company was doing ok, especially with the new Small Business Association (SBA) Loan they got from the governement

After a long day at the office, it was nice to be headed home.  He hopped on the internet to check traffic at the city's website and saw that things looked good, at least for now, but when he got in his car, the over the road signs showed an accident ahead.  John pushed his gps button to give him a detour.  He never really thought anymore about the governement satellites that powered his GPS, but he sure did when he first bought the thing.  He turned on the radio, but they were doing an Emergency Alert System test.  "If this had been an actual emergency..."  John turned it off.  He wasn't terribly late getting home, even with the traffic congestion.  He sat down and enjoyed dinner with his family.

After dinner, he talked to his children about school that day.  There was much to discuss, including the new wing that was suppossed to be open later that year.  It included an Olympic sized swimming pool that would be open sometimes to the public.  His daughter told him about the computer class she was taking and how much she enjoyed it.  He was impressed.  His third child visited the free health clinic today with a headache, but seemed to be ok now.  School was so advanced.  It was like a little community.  They had their own nurses, computer technicians, police officers, all in their small town public school.  Plus, the school even permitted them to sing one verse of Silent NIght every Christmas, right after "Here comes Santa Clause", and right before the recognition of Kwanzaa.

John paid the bills next.  He hated this part of the week, but he had to do it.  He wrote out the house payment.  At least he got the interest deduction every year.  He also wrote out the payment for he and his wife's student loans.  At least it's not as bad as it could have been if they hadn't both had Pell Grants too.

JOhn looked down at his watch.  It was almost time for the presidential debate.  He turned on the TV and settled in.  AFter watching both candidates for a few minutes he let out a big sigh.  "What's the matter dad?"  His daughter asked.  "I'm just afraid if that candidate is elected, we might become a socialist country, and we can't afford for that to happen!!!"

Just something to think about!!!