2.34

Today is the end of 2.34 centuries since the Declaration of Independence was published in Philadelphia. Right now, our republic is threatened by enemies, both internal and external. This is nothing new. For my entire life, the USA has faced enemies of some sort. Nuclear armed Soviet and Chinese Communists have given way to soon-to-be nuclear armed Islamic terrorists. Inside the country, intolerance based upon race or religion that was repugnant to the ideals of the USA has been replaced by large groups who want to do away with those ideals all together. The strange thing for me, however, is that for the first time in my life, the dangerous groups actually control the government. It is not new for Democrats to control the federal government. It is new for them to try to change the essential nature of our society.

The United States was founded on the concept that each individual is endowed by the Almighty with inalienable rights. These are rights that are held by the individual, not by the group to which he or she belongs. This are rights which are inalienable -- the state cannot take them away. These are rights which allow the individual to make his or her own way in the world and to succeed or fail based upon the effort put forth. For a long time, the USA has struggled to give each person equal opportunity.

Now, we are being pushed into a world where equal opportunity is to be replaced by equal outcome. Officials in positions like Speaker of the House say things promoting this agenda. Nancy Pelosi extolled Obamacare by pointing out that workers could now give up their jobs and become artists or musicians without fearing the loss of healthcare. After all, society (meaning the government) would provide.

It has been competition in ideas and in the market place that has made the USA the world's greatest country and economy. It has been hard work and struggle that has allowed individuals to move up the economic ladder quickly in ways that are almost unknown in other societies. It has been these outsized benefits that can be rewarded to anyone that has made us great. Now, Obama and the Obamacrats want these to be gone. The wealthy who already pay the bulk of taxes in our society are made the enemy. They have too much. they need to be taxed more. And the individual is to be regimented to the will of the government. No longer are we to be free to do as we please and reap the benefit or suffer the consequences. No, the incentives of the private enterprise system and individual liberty are to be erased is some supposed effort for the common good which actually results only in the concentration of power in the hands of a few who supposedly know better than the public what is good for the public.

If anyone actually believes that the government knows better than the public what is good for the country, I suggest that you take a close look at how the government is handling the oil crisis in the Gulf. Bureaucrats run amok! Each bureaucrat is protecting his own turf rather than looking for the common good. No proof of life jackets on the ships removing the oil? -- No problem -- just stop all oil removal. Idiocy triumphs in the name of the commmon good.

I only hope that in the next part of the life of this country we are able to move away from the dangerous dalliance with collectivism and back to the basic truths that has made this country great.