Top-down, one-size-fits-all big-government programs don't work. They're inefficient, plagued with corruption, and often don't even help the people they're supposed to serve.
Case in point: Washington States' government-paid family leave program. As The Daily Signal points out in a recent editorial, the program hasn't been able to do anything to help the people who are staying home due to the threat of coronavirus.
According to the Washington state government website, the state’s paid family and medical leave program is supposed to be “here for you when a serious health condition prevents you from working or when you need time to care for a family member, bond with a new child, or spend time with a family member preparing for military service overseas.”
In reality, the program is failing thousands of workers with serious medical conditions and life events, and it can’t do a thing for people with the coronavirus.
For starters, there’s a waiting period before you can apply. As the program’s website explains: “Your ‘waiting week’ is the first week you are approved to file a weekly claim, and you will not be paid for that week.”
Although it can take up to two weeks before an infected person experiences symptoms of the coronavirus, symptoms are unlikely to last more than a week, meaning most coronavirus infections wouldn’t qualify for benefits.
As with most government programs, there’s also an administrative waiting period. Once an employee has a qualifying condition for at least a week and submits all the required medical documentation and forms, benefits are supposed to kick in within 30 days (assuming the worker is approved for benefits).
But Washington’s program has experienced three times its expected demand, and the current backlog has workers waiting up to 10 weeks before they receive benefits.
The average worker doesn’t have enough savings to wait 10 weeks until their benefits show up. And most low-income workers would have a hard time waiting even a week.
If a state program can be so incompetent, imagine expanding these kinds of initiatives to the national level. How can anyone think that programs like Medicare-for-all or free college tuition would be anything short of disasters?
Unfortunately, some politicians in Washington believe that the federal government should be empowered to do exactly that. They think that Washington can solve all our problems, and they're willing to keep proposing wasteful programs even if they don't actually help the American people.
It's time to build a constitutional firewall against big-government initiatives. We need to overturn the last 100 years of judicial activism that has allowed the feds to legislate on everything from healthcare to education to the environment.
A Convention of States can provide that firewall. Called and controlled by the states under Article V of the Constitution, a Convention of States can propose constitutional amendments that restore the balance of power between the feds and the states, get the feds out of our daily lives, and prohibit Washington from enacting top-down, big-government programs.
Fifteen states and millions of Americans have already signed on. Will you be next? Sign the Convention of States petition below!
