Barack Obama ran in 2008 as a candidate who promised transformational change for America. He was to be post partisan and would end the incessant bickering between the two parties in Washington. His was to be the most transparent administration in history; there would be full disclosure, no secrecy and public participation in all aspects of the government. He was to move us beyond the War on Terror and push America into a world made more peaceful by the new open and gracious attitude of the United States. He was to bring back prosperity and jobs. He was to restore our healthcare system to greatness. He was to heal the racial divide. He was even going to stop the rise of the oceans. Of course, here we are three and a half years into Obama’s term, and none of that has happened. Obama is not a president of positive change; he is not even a president of “more of the same”. In short, Obama has just made things worse. Politics is more, not less, partisan. Secrecy is everywhere. The government regularly ignores the wishes of the people. Terror attacks have risen dramatically around the world. There is no prosperity. There are no jobs. The healthcare system is slowly grinding to a halt under the weight of Obamacare. Race relations remain much the same (just ask George Zimmerman about that). Mr. Hope and Change has morphed into Mr. No Hope at All.
Despite Obama’s failure to achieve any positive change, there remains an urgent need for transformation of the fundamental assumptions of American government. During my lifetime, the basic assumption held by most Americans has been that the government needs to help those who are “suffering”, the victims of societal problems, the poor and downtrodden. Are you hungry? The government will feed you. Are you homeless? The government will house you. Are you unemployed? The government will train you and sustain you. Are you an addict? The government will get you through treatment. Are you lonely? The government will provide you a cell phone. Are you poor? The government will provide your health care. The list goes on and on and on, but the basic point is always the same: the government will step in and take care of “those in need”. Certainly, since the 1930’s this has been the consensus. There was a short time in the 1990’s when welfare reform took hold that the idea of self-reliance was reintroduced into the political vocabulary, but this was quickly discarded as a real force in government.
Things, however, have got to change. The government that cures all ills is broke. It borrows 40% of every dollar that it spends. It acts as a major brake on the economic expansion of the private sector. Indeed, as the reach of this governmental remediator - in – chief has grown, the rate of growth in the economy has slowed and slowed and slowed. Right now, the economy cannot even create enough jobs to find employment just for those who are reaching the age where they join the workforce. Certainly, the economy is not growing at close to any rate that could support the current spending levels of the federal government. More and more folks are finding it tolerable to spend their lives being supported by the government. This view is not limited to the weakest segments of society. Just the other day it was announced that America’s veterans who have left the service in the last ten years filed for disability payments at more than twice the level ever previously seen. More than 40% of veterans now seek disability. That’s right. Even America’s brave heroes now say it is time for the government to take care of them.
The current course of the American enterprise is heading straight towards the rocks. We cannot add new government remedies for assorted ills, but that is exactly what has happened. Just look at Obamacare. It is now expected to cost over $2 trillion during its first decade once it is fully implemented. That is $2 trillion that the government does not have. We are facing a disaster in the coming years, a disaster that makes the Titanic look like a picnic. We are facing the 9-11 of our entire political structure. Unless things change, we are facing the day when all of the federal programs come crashing down, the day when the money just runs out. It will be a day when millions of folks around the country are suddenly on their own. All of these will be folks who will have forgotten how to cope, folks who have been raised on the concept that the government must provide for them since they are in need.
We have seen the people in Greece riot over cuts in their lifestyles. We have seen people riot in France over changes to the retirement age for people who are now in their 20’s and 30’s. If those people were ready to riot over the terms of their future retirement (30 years in the future), what will happen here if people lose the bulk of their government assistance in providing food or shelter or health care? It will be a disaster not seen in America for as long as I can remember.
We have no choice but to start converting the basic mindset of America today. We have to get back to the concept of self-reliance. Sure, there can be a safety net for those in need. It has to be for those who suddenly find themselves in trouble, however; it cannot be a lifestyle choice. Those who can work must be obligated to do so. The goal of all programs must be to reintroduce aid recipients into the workforce. Even old age programs have to become more insistent on having folks take care of themselves. Right now, most social security recipients receive substantially more money paid out to them than they ever contributed to the system. Social Security was converted long ago by Congress into a welfare system for the aged. If the cost of living goes up, then so do the payments. Of course, that increase was never included in the collections made for that recipient. Year after year, it just gets worse. And even worse than this problem is the fact that government refuses to inform social security recipients of the true nature of the system. How often have you heard someone say that the payments are just their own money, the return of all those payments made during their working life. Well, it just ain’t so. Sure, some of the money is the return of those FICA taxes, but billions upon billions each year are not. The goal has to be to have these people understand the actual nature of the system and then to work towards reforming it.
I said before that we have no choice. That is not entirely correct. We can choose to continue on the present course and see the end of America as a successful and sovereign nation, or we can choose to transform our society into one in which each person must take care of himself or herself. This is not the harsh society of Social Darwinistic thought. It will still be caring and will still help those in need. Nevertheless, the ultimate responsibility must lie with the individual and not the government.
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