At a recent gathering of friends someone posed the idea that we had seen the high point in American civilization and it was downhill from there. Some raised the point that we had elected a different kind of President and he was making big changes to turn things around. However, the point was made how those in his own party were doing their best to sabotage him and his policies. Some agreed that we were in great danger and may have slid too far to recover.

America was started unlike any other country; it was not a tribe, a group who had lived on the land for thousands of years and all spoke the same language and most had the same religion. The people who came, came from different tribes, some from the same tribe but of a differed religious beliefs. But America was a different set-up. The great rock philosopher Bono said America “Was an Idea” where you could make your own way not hindered by birth, you could make your own way. You could go as far as your ideas, skill and dedication would take you, not like the old countries.

We were certainly the “Land of Opportunity” where you could start with nothing and become famous, wealthy or whatever you wanted only limited by your dreams and dedication. They came from far and wide and worked their magic which created a country of great wealth and it became a superpower. After World War 2 it was undamaged by the war and was a manufacturing powerhouse. But the country had a heart and helped countries to rebuild thus giving away much of our wealth. Our heart was big maybe too big for our own good.

After seeing the agony of war ravage countries we helped rebuild and they became strong then we looked at our own poor and said “we must help them” so we created the “War on Poverty” which gave people money instead of jobs. Money was easy to give but jobs were much harder to create. Unfortunately, the law of unintended consequences kicked in and we created a class of people who were unskilled and dependent upon the government handouts. A safety net sounded good but soon became a tool of enslavement. A whole generation grew up not knowing anyone who worked and not knowing how to work. But it was easy money.

Unfortunately, America had changed the voting system from only allowing men landowners a vote to everybody could vote. It had very important improvements but one downside was that people who were not contributing could vote. So those who were living off the government could elect people who would promise them more and that they did. Recently an e-mail made the rounds stating that 10 states had more people getting benefits from the government, than those working and paying for those benefits. As someone might guess, most of those states are those run by Democrats who promise more handouts. No wonder they keep winning in those states.

The bottom line is, will we embrace socialism where those working support those who choose not to work or do we return to “The Idea Country” where you are free to make your own destiny. The number of those living off the work of others is growing and they will soon make that decision for us unless we stand up and resist by calling our welfare system for what it is, enslavement to a new master, the government.