Employee benefits are the most common form of business dependency. The employee s right to their pension is fettered by vesting schedules requiring them to remain employed by the same company for long periods to maximize benefit. All of us have acquaintances who have wanted to change jobs or start their own business but were discouraged by the prospect of losing health insurance coverage. In many instances, a measure of dependency is required to maintain solid relationships. All contracts have as their basic purpose causing the parties to do, or not to do, something.
Marriage contracts create a substantial dependence between the partners.
In these instances, forfeiting a degree of independence in exchange for relational benefits is a good thing. It adds predictability to our otherwise chaotic environment. President Bush is proposing using federal dollars to fund certain faith-based organizations and thereby add another link to the dependency chain. I shudder when I think of the potential for destroying our faith-based organizations by making them dependent on the government for their daily bread. Overall, faith-based, religious organizations perform yeoman duty in caring for the spiritual needs of their congregations and providing needed social services to the less fortunate.