Is American changing so much that we’re losing the Republic our Founding Fathers brought forth? The answer is yes, it is slipping away from all of us. Where the slide first began is hard to determine but it has been steadily going downhill for a long while.
It may have started with Woodrow Wilson, the income tax or Social Security, maybe all three. I think it even may have been before those clear manifestations. Surely, it is now obvious with the impending collapse of our middle class economy that we’re going downhill, at least the working class is. For most of the twentieth century our society and economy was able to absorb and overcome almost anything. Following World War II, we were the world’s powerhouse economy.
Some of those things were set in place long before they began to take effect, the slide began to steepen, and the speed increased, with Great Society, which was intended to help those in poverty but instead, ensnared them into a continuing web of dependency. This may have sealed our fate, paying people more not to work is a sure way to disaster, but that is exactly what we are doing. We’ve all heard reports of people making the equivalent of $40,000 a year in benefits. Maybe it’s only $30,000 or maybe its $50,000 in Hawaii, but it’s still too much.
Then came the E.P.A., the real job killer. It was started in response to an oil spill off the California coast. Now it has grown into an uncontrollable monster. It started with the best of intentions, it did some good work but then the thing began to grow. Running out of obvious pollution cleanups, it continued to hire more people. They all wanted something to control so they began to cast a very wide net. That net today is trying to control our energy resources and our farmers. Way outside anything envisioned in its creation concepts.
This coupled with the growth of government employees, provided the perfect storm. People working for government wanted something to do so they began to meddle in people lives; more employees, more inspectors, more enforcers and so on. There was a rule for this and a rule for that and one for everything in between.
Recently I had a personal experience with a family who made chocolate; however, they wanted to move to a different location so the inspectors came on the run. “You can’t do it this way it’s our way or no license”. Luckily, one of our local politicians, (thanks Al) got involved and having more pull than the inspectors, was able to save the business. However, how many small businesses don’t have a savior?
If we are to survive as a Republic, we must roll back the size of government. We must limit their power over our lives; no more IRS harassment of political enemies. No more BLM harassment over land use, no more EPA harassment over farm ditches and ponds, no more unlimited welfare, work or serve to earn it.
Yes, we need money to fund our government, yes, we need to care for our land, yes, we need protection of our environment, but not at the current weight of government harassment. Let’s get back to basics, shrink government and let us control it, not the other way around. Let us get back to making America great and preserve our Republic.
Mike Young is a retired water and power executive who resides in Mesquite. Graduated from the University of LaVerne he has taught communications skills and technical subjects throughout the Western Hemisphere. In addition to writing and editing technical manuals, he has a book titled “Speaking for Effect”. He has received some of the highest awards and recognition from both professional and public organizations
