A Feb. 8 letter writer claimed America can’t afford the expense of our homeless, let alone refugees. Shun them or have pro-refugee demonstrators charitably house, feed and educate them. This she opined will avoid increasing the national debt.
The letter touches the heart of Christianity’s deepest moral question: Do I have responsibility toward/for my fellow man? The writer says, “No.” Beyond recommending they get a job and stand on their own feet, she sees no moral obligation to help our homeless or refugees. She perceives them as sponging off the hard work of taxpayers already $20 trillion in debt.
To me, her affordability argument crumbles if human life is put ahead of self-indulgence. For example, DSHS reports $576 million as the highest year’s refugee resettlement cost and notes refugees have quickly repaid for a near net zero cost to taxpayers. In effect, the money was loan to refugees. Meanwhile, since 1997, taxpayers have chosen to add $300 million a year to the debt just to subsidize private sports stadiums. That’s saving people from war and famine versus watching games, or simply not watching as many games. And sports isn’t the only area of choice where Americans have become self-indulgent to the point of ignoring or leaving our unfortunate homeless and refugees to charity.
Really, affordability is a matter of priorities. The writer’s opinion that we should take care of our own before helping others is a legitimate point of view I find short-sighted or morally questionable. So long as we focus on taking care of our own, we’ll not understand what care is or who are our own.
Paul Heckel
Snohomish
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