We The People

Over the last few weeks I have been cautious on my writing as I don't want this site to be a political battleground. The candidates for President have created enough drama as it is. So what is going to follow is not statement of a partisan nature, but more of a comment of the state of the State.

To put my thoughts into historical context, the Founding Fathers stated what the government was to be and I could never say it more eloquently:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

On a day to day basis, my day job (so to speak) resolves around some of the promoting the general welfare, helping provide affordable decent housing for all. One of the basic tenants of life, food, clothing and shelter. In these modern times, one new basic component of the general welfare is health care.

On a daily basis I see how We The People have slipped in our responsibility of promoting that general welfare. I am not just talking about the Government or a political party, but all of us. I am lucky, however, to have come to meet a group who understand the responsibilities of We The People.

Double Trouble

The impetus for this post is the story of a family that came to my attention about a week ago. A week ago this family was living in their long time home, like all the middle class"Joe the Plumbers". Last night, if night for the herculean actions of a few dedicated people, this family was looking at spending the night in their car.

This family was falied not only by a financial system that took their home without leaving them a clear plan for their safety, but by a health care system that drained them of any financial safety net that they had. The father lost his job and his health insurance, leaving him with the choice of paying the mortgage or for the medication that his wife and his son take for cronic conditions they have. He chose their health, costing him his home.

I would say that We The People failed to provide for the general welfare of this family, thus denying them the Blessing of Liberty that our Founding Fathers spoke so eloqunetly of 221 years ago.

THUMBS DOWN ON THUMBS DOWN

The following is a Letter to the Editor to the "AIM West Milford" in response to a "Thumbs Down" about a neighbor that lost their house two foreclosure. I'm posting my letter here as AIM has not yet published it. What do you think?

THUMBS DOWN ON FORECLOSURE

While reading the September 25th issue of AIM West Milford I was dismayed by a Thumbs Down about neighbors who had lost their home to the bank and had left “useless garbage” behind.

My dismay is not with the comment itself but the fact that it seems that we as a society has become desensitized to the tragedy that foreclosure and the loss of one’s home is. We have come to think in terms of Wall Street and Main Street, but we have lost what is means in human terms.

At the end of the foreclosure process, I can assure you that the families that are being displaced are not functioning logically. Losing your home to foreclosure is one of the most traumatic events one can face, only behind the death or serious illness of a loved one. The feeling of grief and guilt and shame can be overwhelming to people, so overwhelming that mental health professionals have likened the condition to Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

In my professional life, working for a not for profit community development organization, I have the opportunity to work with people in jeopardy of losing their homes as well as dealing with the vacant homes left behind. Much of my work is in the urban centers of northern New Jersey were the concentration of foreclosure is staging. But whether in Newark or West Milford, the personal trauma of losing your home is no less devastating.

If you want to ask why things aren’t cleaned up then let’s ask where the new owner, the bank, is. They are forcing families out of their homes without a clear plan on how to maintain the properties after they own them. Then they let them deteriorate only to sell them for less than the previous owners owed.

So let us remember that foreclosure isn’t about a house, it’s about a home and the family that lives in it. Garbage can be cleaned up, but can the lives of that family be cleaned up as easily, if ever? People have literally turned to suicide rather than face foreclosure.

Dealing with this day in and day out, I know that there but for the grace of god go I.