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June 25, 2009 Volume 5, Number 24 | ||
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In This Issue . Fair Tax Rally . Cynthia in the News . A Little Bit of Humor.
E-Mail cynthia.davis@house.mo.gov
Find me on
Committees Special Committee on Children and Families Chair Chair Special Committee on State Parks and Waterways Official Homepage for Missouri State Government Official Government Homepage for your Missouri Senator and Representative Look up Missouri House Bills - View Entire Text, Summary, and Last Action Look up Missouri Senate Bills Consumer Complaints & Fraudulent Activity, No-Call List
Federal Links Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer
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Fair Tax Rally
Representative Davis speaking in front of 4,700 people at the Fair Tax Rally in Columbia .
This was a very special event. When I said "Hi, I am Cynthia Davis from O'Fallon, Missouri ", the crowd broke into applause. It feels pretty good to be on the side of the taxpayer. While many of the details need yet to be worked out concerning a fair tax, we should all desire more fairness in our taxation structure. Having a retail establishment in O'Fallon, I understand the importance of having the same prices for everybody.
Government should be the same way. I am concerned about our national government because they have shown no discipline, nor any desire to protect the taxpayers. We have special interest groups clamoring for more money all the time, but up until recently it felt like there was no balancing voice in the debate. Recently I questioned one expenditure and was viciously attacked by those who were offended by the mere question. We will never get much in the way of fiscal responsibility if the rules are that nobody is allowed to have a civil and intellectual debate.
Cynthia in the News
Summer Feeding Program
Last week a local Missouri newspaper ran an editorial that misrepresented my views and the true issues surrounding the summer feeding program article I wrote a few weeks ago. We all agree on the importance of feeding children, but we differ on who should do this. I believe this duty belongs to the parents. Instead of respecting this time honored jurisdiction of the family, the summer feeding program treats families like they do not exist.
When government takes over a family function, like feeding children on a daily basis, we take a group of people who are capable and treat them like they are incapacitated. Some have a low view of parents, presuming most of them are inept and proposing governmental intervention as the only solution.
I believe most parents are good and want the blessing and privilege of feeding their children. When families are sharing a meal around the kitchen table, much more is happening. Mealtime is the primary time for shaping values and strengthening bonds. All of this is missing or diluted when it happens outside the family.
Look into your own heart and ask, "What made a difference in my life as a child?" Was it standing in a line for a cafeteria style meal at school or was it sitting around the kitchen table with others in your family?
All the children being fed in this program have parents or guardians who are already functioning in a nurturing roll. They have not been judged to be neglectful or abusive in any way. Government should not take the care of their children from them. The right way to help is treat the root cause, not the symptom. We must support the parents in providing for their children, not circumvent them.
We can go a long way to strengthening our families without any government program at all just by connecting our less fortunate families to churches and food pantries. Parents will usually feed their children before themselves. Wouldn't it be better to fix the overall problem for the family rather than use private vendors and make the children go back to an institution to eat two meals a day?
Yet to dare suggest there are alternatives for rational people to discuss and consequences of government taking over so much in people's lives is to be branded an inhuman monster in your editorial. If you truly believe there are parents who "wouldn't" feed their children breakfast or lunch during the summer, why aren't you concerned that they aren't getting dinner, may not have clean clothes or a proper bed to sleep in? Don't you care about children? Isn't the next step under your scenario to take children away from their poor parents?
My goal is not to replace parents, but to reinforce them. The solution is found in helping those near us, not in yet another gigantic federally funded mass market approach. Bigger government invites fraud and robs people of the dignity of personal human relationships.
Perhaps the core of our differences comes from a conflict of vision. I see beauty in human potential emerging from finding local solutions to local problems. Short of a national disaster, all family problems are as local as you can get and need local solutions. Missourians have the resources and capacity to address the needs of our own residents without our national government coming in to "spare us" from our own individual problems at a tremendous cost.
My Capitol Report Goes National
My weekly Capitol Report is a way for me to have two-way communications with my constituents and not a national manifesto for you to mock, distort, and to be quoted out of context. Better education can change the plight of the poor. My sincere hope is that we can lift families out of poverty through compassionate interaction with those who can show them a better way. This is why I agreed to chair an interim committee to study poverty and why I volunteered to teach a cooking class for mothers utilizing the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program to help teach young mothers how to prepare nutritious meals. Together we can discover how to couple good intentions with sound economic policies that will create sustainable solutions that empower all of us. This is the path to helping our families flourish and move us forward as a free and virtuous society.
Your thoughts are important to me, so please feel free to send me your opinion by clicking here: Cynthia Davis
A Little Bit of Humor
Free ServicePoliceman:
"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to lock you up for the
night."
Man: "What's
the charge officer?"
Policeman:
"Oh, there's no charge. It's all part of the
service."
This Capitol Report is a weekly column by Representative Cynthia Davis, from the 19th District, covering events in the Missouri Legislature and district-wide issues. J If you know of anyone else who would like to receive my Capitol Report, please send an e-mail to Cynthia.Davis@house.mo.gov with the person's name and e-mail address. We'll add them to the list.
L If you would like to stop receiving the Capitol Report, email us at Cynthia.Davis@house.mo.gov with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
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