Don't people read?

So, I'm sitting with some co-workers on break and we're talking about current events, as you do. During the discussion, there is mention of the new healthcare reforms and both say, in their own words, that the people (via the government or otherwise) shouldn't pay to help out others. As one put it, "that's not what our country was founded on."

Now, both of these ladies are well-meaning, god-fearing Christians who strongly agree that the U.S. was (and, mostly, still is) a Christian nation.

There are a raft of sayings by that Nazarene Hippy which would apply here, most of which I've waxed rhapsodic about before. Instead, let's try something different, non-biblical and a bit more current.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
- Emma Lazerus, The New Colossus

You may recognize it. That's the poem on Lady Liberty. Of course, she's not what this country was founded on either. *sighs *