My friend Mike Argento, a columnist at my former newspaper the York Daily Record, offers up a modest proposal about what to do with all those unemployed folks who have been such a bummer to lawmakers, who would rather be focused on more important matters, like giving tax cuts to the rich.
Actually, Argento credits a Pennsylvania state lawmaker, Republican Rep. Scott Perry, with coming up with the idea, even though Perry doesn’t know it.
Perry recently sponsored a bill to cut unemployment benefits, because, as he told reporters, it’s unfair that laid-off people are basically getting a paid vacation. “It’s a fairness thing,” he has said.
Perry also sponsored another bill, which was recently signed into law. As Argento explains:
He pushed a law through the Legislature that codifies something called “The Castle Doctrine” which, in essence, makes it easier to legally shoot people, the reasoning apparently being that it should be easier to legally shoot people. Actually, he explained that the bill would remove your legal obligation to retreat in the event of an attack so you wouldn’t have to run away like a little girl when you feel threatened with grave bodily harm. The result, though, is it makes it easier to legally shoot people.
Now, I bet you see where this is going. The column is so terrific it really needs to be read in its entirety.
Seriously. Read it.
But Argento does see a potential downside to the plan.
Of course, some people may object because of all of that stuff in the Bible about caring for the poor and being your brother’s keeper and such. They may point to the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus tells the multitudes to be nice to one another and treat the poor, the weak and the downtrodden with decency.
They must have an old version of the book. The American translation says, “Forget the poor for they are a burden on the rich.”
