Governor John Kasich (R-OH)God wants Ohio to expand Medicaid, at least according to Governor John Kasich (R-OH). Ā Don’t worry though, he is a believer in small government. Ā Whew! Ā In remarks made to the media Ā on Tuesday(see video here) Kasich said:

ā€œI mean, all of these bills are in, and Iā€™ve made it clear to them that we need it. I mean, here Iā€™m talking to a business group, talking about how important it is. Itā€™ll either be in the budget or itā€™ll be later but I just wanna make it clear: I will not give up this fight till we get this done, period, exclamation point.ā€

ā€œIā€™ve, Iā€™ve, Iā€™ve, Iā€™ve pleaded, Iā€™ve argued, Iā€™ve presented, itā€™s what it is in this business, soā€¦ Iā€™m not gonna give this up, I will not. I donā€™t care how long it takes, hopefully itā€™ll be sooner rather than longer, Iā€™m gonna do my best. And Iā€™m being, as I told you last week, Joe, sometimes pleasantly persistent, and maybe persistent without all the pleasantness. I mean, we just have to get this done.ā€

ā€œYa know, because people are poor doesnā€™t mean they donā€™t work hard. Because people are poor doesnā€™t mean that ā€“ it sometimes means they couldnā€™t pull themselves up by their bootstraps at some point in time. The most important thing for this legislature to think about: put yourself in somebody elseā€™s shoes.ā€

ā€œPut yourself in the shoes of a mother and a father with an adult child thatā€™s struggling. Walk in somebody elseā€™s moccasins. Understand that, ya know, poverty is real, and that when people are poorā€¦ Iā€™ll tell ya somethinā€™, I had a; I had a comment; I had a conversation with a, one of the leadersā€¦ wasnā€™t one of the leaders, but one of the members of the legislature the other day.ā€

ā€œI said, ā€˜I respect the fact that you believe in small government. I do too. I also happen to know that youā€™re a person of faith. Now, when you die and get to the, get to the, uh, to the meeting with St. Peter, heā€™s probably not gonna ask you much about what you did about keeping government small, but heā€™s going to ask you what you did for the poor. Better have a good answer.ā€™ā€

ā€œI canā€™t go any harder than that! I got nothing left than that, soā€¦ and I wanna compliment Jan Brewer, the gov- the conservative governor of Arizona, um, nobody wouldā€™ve ever thoughtā€¦ and so, this is not a support of Obamacare, this a support of helping our communities, our health care systems, the poor, the disabled, the addicted, and the mentally ill. Thatā€™s what this is about, and we need to do it as Ohioans.ā€

Apparently it is ok to mislead the public, the press and the Ohio LegislatureĀ on how the funding would actually works though. Ā While I agree we probably won’t be asked about how we kept government small we are not going to be asked about how well we spent other people’s money with entitlements. Ā Governor Kasich makes the typical mistake of seeing Matthew 25 through the lens of a nation-state, when Jesus was referring to individual believers.

ā€œWhen the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ā€˜Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.ā€™ ā€œThen the righteous will answer Him, saying, ā€˜Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?ā€™ And the King will answer and say to them, ā€˜Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.ā€™ ā€œThen He will also say to those on the left hand, ā€˜Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.ā€™ ā€œThen they also will answer Him, saying, ā€˜Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?ā€™ Then He will answer them, saying, ā€˜Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.ā€™ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life,ā€ (Matthew 25:31-46, NKJV).

While Jesus as the Judge is addressing the nations gathered what He describes are individual actions, Ā how well did you take care of the stranger, the hungry, the naked and the ill. Ā How a legislator voted on whether the taxpayers should fund these things isn’t what He is talking about; rather how charitable the legislator as an individual was.

All of that is pointless, however, if you lack a relationship with Christ.

HT:Ā Ohio Capitol Blog

Photo credit: Governor Steve BeshearĀ via FlickrĀ (CC-By-NC-ND 2.0)

You May Also Like

Senators Introduce NDAA Amendment to Strengthen Cybersecurity

Seven U.S. Senators introduced an amendment to the NDAA that directs the president to elevate Cyber Command to a Combatant Command.

The Consequences of Progressive Economic Policies

ā€œProgressives are the primary impediment to progress.ā€ When examining progressive policies from both a historic and current perspective this is correct.

Giving the People a Voice

Chuck Grassley: Not since 1888 has an election year nominee been confirmed during a divided government to fill a vacancy occurring in the same year.

Random Thoughts on the Health Care Train Wreck

Brian Myers offers his thoughts on the collapse of the House Republican plan to replace Obamacare last week and its aftermath.