The dose makes the poison

This old saying usually applied to medicines. Most associate it with cancer tests as in if a rat gets 1,000 the normal daily intake of X, then he may get cancer, and it may apply to humans, too.

This old saying applies to societies, also. Too much of a good thing may do more harm than good, in spite of the original good intention. This old saying is a variation of the “law of unintended consequences” or the more colloquial “Murphy’s law”.

Bringing up this old saying is prompted by two things going on. The first thing is the seemingly wonderful and professional response of local and state government, and charities, to the recent spat of fires in Southern California. The other event is the lull in the run up to the 2008 elections, which allows time for contemplation and deciding what is important to individual families, the Country, and the American culture. For example, one is reminded we are not a democracy, but a federal republic. And one is reminded much of what government is supposed to do for us is at the local and state level, as in public schools, police, fire protection, and road maintenance.

This contemplation time can lead to strange free play results. In our American culture, will we always have an economic underclass, a so called poverty class. I say “so called” because poverty in America is different from poverty in much of the third world. Does the American culture expect to reach a “Lake Wobegon” cultural state where “all children are above average”? And much like the frustration so many Americans experience about ending the war in Iraq, will we also ever end the war on poverty?

American culture has a streak of honest to goodness charity built into to our psyche. That’s just the way we are. We are also born problem solvers, and again, that’s just the way we are. Our innate pursuit of a perfect commune is balanced by the realities of life, as in someone has to pay, and some work harder than others.

Is our American culture capable of tough love, often practiced by parents to their children? Is our charitable streak balanced by our practical streak? Most think governments helping charities helping fellow Americans recover from calamities of nature is a good thing. Most think helping fellow Americans who are poor, for whatever reason, get health care for their kids (and other such things), is part of our psyche. Most think not allowing free loaders who abuse the good intent is also part of our psyche. Most Americans do not want to create an underclass dependent on government and charities for generations to come. Most Americans certainly do not want to expand charity to the middle class. They are expected to pay. After all, somebody has to pay, and it is the middle and upper classes if we are to survive as an American culture, and Nation.

One local true story can express this cultural discussion. Here charity is 100% to the intended, in this case the local town homeless person and town drunk. Even the police allow him to serve his jail time in the winter months so he can be warm and fed. The 100% charitable people did all the paper work, etc, and got him into the local public housing, to the point of even getting him a used washer and dryer so he could be cleaner. Well he sold the washer and dryer for beer money, and the 100% charitable people were back to square one. The American culture point is that some things and people cannot be changed in spite of our best intentions.

And so back to the point of taking advantage of the time to contemplate. Has the rise of “American career politicians” led to this group of people exploiting our American culture’s fault lines? Has this group become a “class of people”, as in a ruling elite that panders to our worst cultural instincts? Is nepotism just around the corner?

Too much of a good thing, which American culture should be proud of, has gotten us to where we are today. Too much more of a good thing may bring great suffering and distress. Like in family tough love, or just old fashioned “divining” the best dose, it is best left to American families and voters if we are to avoid the poison and enhance our American cultural health.