Today, we celebrate our independence from the British Government. Our Founding Fathers declared this independence over two centuries ago, and fought to make it a reality. They wanted our young nation to be free from oppressive control by a foreign monarch. They wanted us to be “not dependent”.
We Have Become Dependent On Our own Government
We started off that way. And we are still “free”, nominally at least. But, particularly over more recent years, we have lost our independence, and have become dependent on our own government. As a people, we look to our government to provide us with education, jobs, health care, and retirement benefits. If we are disadvantaged or poor, we demand that our government provide us with lifetime income. Government programs that started as a “humanitarian safety net” have now become a “vested right” in the eyes of many. We feel entitled to a high standard of living; if we can’t, or won’t, earn it, we expect our government to provide it for us.
Our Current Dependence is High Risk
We have, in short, become dependent on government again. While it is a different government this time (it is “us” not “them”), it is nevertheless a dependence on government. Too bad. We seem to have lost the sense of personal responsibility our Founding Fathers had, an ingrained sense that made them independent. Our current dependence on government is high risk (because it relies on a source without assets or earning power). It also greatly diminishes our national character, and may ultimately destroy this once-great nation of ours…Bill O’Neill