A Ridiculous Notion!

"In order for people with less power to feel as if they have some control over their own lives, they need assistance from their government"

That is a statement on read in an article on Helium.
I see many problems with this idea.

1. If one seeks only the 'feeling' of being in control of one's life, than one is willing decieving onesself.

2. If one only wants 'some control' one does not want true liberty.

3. If the government has to give one 'some control' over one's life, one really has no control, it is only imaginary.

4. If the government is really controlling how much control one has over one's life then one is oppressed and if this one is a true American one would oppose such government 'help'.

The idea that government control of individuals helps the freedom that Americans have ever craved is ludicrious! How can government intervention in the lives of individual citizens be construed as helping liberty? I believe that it has been accomplished in many subtle ways. The public school system (see the link I posted) has gone far to numb American minds. The welfare system has dulled Americans sense of responsibility and initiative to provide for onesself. Slow and steady government intervention has acclimated Americans to accepting such interference as normal and even beneficial. Globalization, the idea that we, as Americans, are part of a 'global community' has eroded our patriotic and nationalist ideals.

If you read the link I posted before about the Prussian schooling method being used here in the US you will know my thoughts on the PSS (public school system). I understand that there may be individuals that have managed to keep themselves largely untainted from the system, but those are the minority. And I am allowed to say that since I was educated by 'the system'.

The ease of getting public assistance makes it palatable to many. I have used it myself. *blushes* I did not stop to think that it was other people's money that I was taking. It was the fruits of other's labor that I was enjoying. There was a time in America when people spurned 'charity' even when their families were in dire straights! Think of the poor family in "To Kill a Mockingbird" (I have gone blank on their name). The family was 'dirt poor' and would not take help no matter how bad things were. Now don't get me wrong. I think that people should accept help if they really need it, but what happened to pride? Not selfish pride, but pride in accomplishment. Pride in taking care of one's own. How does it help one's self-image to be given a handout? How does it help one to grow and strive as an individual for success to be told that they cannot succeed without the government's help? Of course, our idea of 'poor' has changed quite a bit. I think it was Ronald Reagan who said, "My parents didn't know they were poor until the government told them they were.".

The federal government has been slowly regulating us into the mentality that the government knows what is best for individuals and has fostered a distrust of our fellow Americans to do what is right. The government constantly tells us that the business owners (who have a vested interest in the individual's properity) are only out for themselves and that the government (which has a vested interest in our dependency) does have the individuals best interests at heart (does the government even have one?). Are we seriously asked to believe that the government officials, who are so far removed from 'main street' as to have no idea of the needs and wishes of their constituency, have THE PEOPLE'S best interests in mind?

We do have a global economy. That does not mean however that we are 'citizens of the world'. I am an American. I am also a Texan, by the grace of God! ;) The primary purpose of our government is NATIONAL security. It should not be the focus of our elected leadership to try to force us into this global government. I do not want the UN telling me how to run my business, my home, or how to raise my children. The interests of our nation ought to be first with our government. We should not be forced, by taxation, to give aid to other countries. Let them work and figure out how to best serve their people. Our country should not be trying to police the world. I do not want a world leader as POTUS. I want a President that cares for us, his fellow Americans. I mean really cares, not just gives lip service. I want a President that is not blinded by his or her own political agenda and who has not been bought off by lobbyists.

I suppose I just want the government to stay out of my personal life, out of my wallet, and out of the business of the rest of the world.

Let us be Americans. You know the ones who struggled and worked and did without many comforts simply for the satisfaction of having lived well (and by well I do not mean simply financially). Let us strive and work, without the government telling us how. Let us once again be the America that brought multitudes to her shores with the hope of a better, free life.