I have confidence you can tell where this is going for the beginning. Let the personal pronoun "I" in the following represent whoever or whatever you desire.

If I am going to purchase something for someone with my own money I am very careful about the price and item purchased.

If I am going to purchase something for another person with my own money I am careful about the price but not quite as careful with the item purchased.

If I am going to purchase something for another person with another person's money, I am not as careful about the price or the item purchased.

The first of these examples illustrates a "first-person purchase." The second is a "second-person purchase."

The third is a "third-person purchase." A third-person purchase involves getting money from someone else and purchasing something for someone else. I am not really personally involved. A third-person purchase doesn't affect me. I am just an unaffected facilitator.

However, if I figure out that giving things to people makes me look good, I start looking for a greater source of money.

By now you know the government is the "I" and third party of reference.

By taking much from a few and giving it to the many the many become indebted and don't mind being that way. As a matter of fact they don't even recognize it as being indebted. They just feel highly favored. The purpose of the favor is to return the favor by voting for the giver again, and again.

If robbers break into a business and hold people hostage while taking the company's money it is a crime. Forcefully taking money from defenseless persons to whom it rightly belongs is a crime no matter what is done with it after it is taken.

Presently, some members of our government are saying they want to give us something, universal health care. To do so they have to get the money for it from somewhere. The solution is to make it a third-person purchase. It involves taking the money from someone and giving it to someone without being affected.

The problem is the same as with any third-person purchase. The person in the middle (the government) is not as careful with the purchase price as he would be if it were his own money. Neither is he as careful with the product as though it were purchased for him.

Members of Congress have their own health-care program and won't be influenced by the potential health care program.

Locally, we have some very good legislators who are not willing third-person purchasers. They deserve our support. Opposition to third-person purchasers is proper. Increasingly, voices are being raised across America against them. Knowing battles can be wearing, let's not fail to encourage those who want greater care taken in making third person purchases.

When in the position of making a second or third person purchase, show self-discipline and wisdom. Use the first-person purchase as a template.

The Rev. Dr. Nelson Price is pastor emeritus of Roswell Street Baptist Church. Contact Price at nlprice@aol.com.