Cynthia Davis: Federal government is subsidizing promiscuity

In her latest capitol report, term-limited Rep. Cynthia Davis, R-O'Fallon, reveals that poverty does not come because people don't have jobs, but because they are not married.

Mrs. Davis believes the federal government has been the instigator behind the growth of poverty because it  is "subsidizing promiscuity."

Those who are worried that Mrs. Davis will no longer be able to save our nation from

its misguided policies have nothing to fear. Not only is she chairman of the St. Charles County Republican Committee, but she is also executive director of the Center for Marriage Policy, a place where people remain married so they will never have to fear poverty, and where hunger is always used as a motivator for children:

My sister lived in France for a number of years. When I went to visit her, she introduced me to many traditional French delicacies; one of which was Pâté de Foie Gras (If you are of my generation or older, the only place I had ever heard of this was on The Three Stooges -but I’ve digress.) Pâté de Foie Gras is a special spread made from a fatty liver of a force-fed goose. When I think of many governmental solutions to poverty, there are some parallels with a forced-fed goose. A lot of well intentioned efforts to create something beneficial turn out to be unpalatable or cause pain to others in ways never imagined and certainly very unnatural.

While it may seem like we are correcting the presenting problem, the resulting bigger government foists programs upon us that rob both the taxpayers and recipients of their natural dignity.

The Speaker of the House appointed a committee to study poverty. Do you think with all the unemployment, there would be a proportional increase in poverty? Surprisingly, no. Taken in the aggregate, marital status is a greater indicator of poverty than job status! An old expression says, “You get more of what you subsidize and you get less of what you tax.” Our national government has been subsidizing promiscuity and has been taxing marriage and those with an ambitious work ethic. The policies of the current federal administration are designed to escalate this to a higher level yet.

The only hope left is for the states to design policies that will reverse this trend because they are on a financial collision course. If you have the time to read through the report we produced, you will learn some innovative ideas that you will not hear about on the evening news. We toured the Sunshine Mission in St. Louis and heard from some of the foremost experts in the entire country about how to solve many poverty related issues. The answers will surprise you because they do not involve bigger government or more money thrown at the problem.

We are on a mission to save our state from waste, fraud and abuse. The first place to start is by understanding which programs help and which ones merely exacerbate the problem. Sometimes our methods of involvement actually do more damage than good. Those who study alcoholism understand the concept of co-dependency. In many cases, the government has been acting like a co-dependent---enabling people to destroy themselves so that they will have a greater need for more government. The only lasting solutions come from the private sector.