Forced charity

Cheryl Tobin (Your Views, July 14) seems to have forced charity confused with true charity. Our government is not people “joining together” for the general welfare; it’s the federal government confiscating the fruits of one person’s labor to give to another.

Nobody wants to deny health care to someone who is too sick or disabled and can’t work. My problem is with those who can work and choose not to. Many organizations and people in general have abdicated true charity to the government because it’s the easier, softer way. But the government doesn’t produce anything! All its money is confiscated from citizens. It’s nothing like charity.

I was poor at one time but still had insurance because it was affordable and we made sacrifices to pay for it. I am now self-employed and pay for my own insurance, which has tripled in the past several years to pay for others’ subsidies and coverage I don’t need. My wife works 12 hours a day in a high-stress job and I work in the heat outside. Would Jesus want our money forcefully taken to pay for someone who chooses not to do anything?

Maybe Tobin would like to help me explain to my customers why I have had my second price increase in the past three years. I’ve had to raise my prices not to improve my standard of living, but to keep it from going backward. The government cannot be all things to all people.

Stephen Butler, Yukon