Meandering Thoughts on the Proposed NH Budget

Yesterday I attended the rally at the Statehouse in Concord, NH to join the protest against the House version of the proposed New Hampshire state budget. I am not one to ordinarily attend such events, primarily because one often ends up, by virtue of being present, supporting things that one did not intend. However, given that the house version of the budget changes eligibility requirements for mental health services so that 7000 people will no longer be eligible, and reduces child care funding that will affect 4000 of the state's children, and additionally strips $115 million from the budget for hospital care of the poor, and eliminates programming for helping troubled youth, I felt that in addition to letters to my represtatives I had an obligation to attend the rally. I was also struck by the fact that the proposal rescinds the tax on gambling winnings, and lowers the tax on tobacco. (I didn't know gamblers and smokers had such clout.)

Outrage over the plight of the poor living in poverty is a continual theme throughout the Bible. For instance, the prophet Isaiah writes, "Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey! (Isaiah 10:1-2) The prophet Amos writes, "Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat." (Amos 8:4-6) In his visit to Nazareth (Luke 4) Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor...."

As for us, the church, taking seriously the scriptures and what it is to be baptized into the life, death and resurrection of Christ, means we have an identity that frees us from definition by the usual measures of economic success and failure. Yet our baptism into Christ calls us to serve our neighbor as Christ emptied himself for us, and to follow the summation of the law given by Jesus, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.(Mt. 22:37ff.)

Attending a rally without a willingness to be part of the solution would be hypocritical at best, but I don't think the church is speaking hypocritically on this issue. Here at Gethsemane we just finished putting together 160 school kits for needy children; we are in the process of filling barrels with food, clothing and supplies to send to Haiti; we are collecting money for the ELCA Hunger program;we recently had a large food and clothing collection for the New Horizon's pantry in addition to our ongoing collections; we have started our own emergency pantry; and the pastor's discretionary fund has aided many people in need. I marvel at times at just how well our people do in responding to the needs of others. All of this requires thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of volunteer time. Gethsemane is fairly typical of the churches in Manchester which are all doing their best to meet basic needs.

Recently, Kevin Smith, head of the Cornerstone Policy Research center was quoted in the Concord Monitor as saying that churches need to step up to the plate and do more for New Hampshire's poor. He even went so far as to say we had abdicated our responsibility to the state. Of course, I find it rather obnoxious that the chairperson of an organization that works for limited government, who fully supports the House proposal, and couches his rhetoric in Christian language would have the temerity to ask churches to do more. His suggestion is that churches should take care of the poor so that people like him can have lower tax bills, and he tries to make it sound virtuous. (Actually it sounds both miasmic and Christianist. As I have said in other places, my definition of a Christianist is someone who seeks political power by exploiting Christian language.) There isn't much of a Christian ethic to be found in Mr. Smith's proposals. In fact, despite his churchy language he is proposing that the state has no obligation to the state's poorest and most needy, and since he is tired of paying he wants to curtail state spending and shift it elsewhere. His proposal isn't realistic. In New Hampshire, fewer than 23% of the population are members of churches. It is not likely that these people are going to be able to shoulder the burden if the House budget passes. The New Hampshire motto is "live free or die." Currently, too many people seem to have the view that this freedom simply means freedom from any responsibility for one's neighbor. Perhaps the definition of living free needs to be expanded from that of mere personal liberty to freedom from poverty, freedom from mental illness, and freedom from ignorance, to name a few. Perhaps one day it may even mean freedom from the greed that makes all of us so unsypathetic to our neighbor's plight. As churches, we will continue to both provide for the poor and to be a voice for them in the state of New Hampshire. And it might do our legislature some little bit of good to read the story of the rich man and Lazarus. (Luke 16:19ff.)It is a parable we all need to remind ourselves of now and then. Pastor Boehringer