As with all great gifts and power, there comes a cost. The cost of having our rights in tact are our responsibilities that come with them. Ronald Reagan once said, "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." That is our first great responsibility--to preserve the rights we enjoy for the next generation. The choices that we make today, with our votes, with our finances, with our attitudes toward our countrymen we determine what the next generation of Americans will enjoy or endure.
We cannot separate our choices and their natural consequences. Though many today try to do just that, it is impossible. We cannot enslave one portion of the population to provide for another without consequences. We cannot envy the wealth and good fortune of another person without suffering the consequences of what envy does to the soul. We cannot spend beyond our means, and then expect those who have been wise with their money to pick up the tab when we are unable to pay. We cannot expect those who are taken advantage of to just sit by and wait for all that they have earned to be taken and given to someone not of their choosing. Those who have become the provider class in our country will soon leave, and then what will the dependant class do?
There is a story that illustrates this perfectly. 10 friends go out to dinner once a week. One day, one of the men is unable to go because he is having financial trouble, so the others offer to pitch in and pay for his dinner. Soon another is unable to come because of a lack of money, and the other 8 pitch in for his dinner, also. Soon there are others who feel that there are others in the group could can afford to pick up their tabs as well. As time goes on, all but one of the friends have found one excuse or another not to pay for their meal. The day of their weekly dinner arrives, and the one who was supposed to pay the tab doesn't show up, and everyone goes hungry.
When will we take notice when we make a decision like this? Most of us are guilty of taking advantage of available 'programs' from time to time. How many of us have considered the cost? What do these 'free' programs do to those who are forced to pay for them? If someone who has an abundance of food wants to share it with others, it is called charity. If someone who has an abundance of food is forced at the point of a gun to give it to someone not of their choosing, that is theft. And yet we perpetrate this crime of legal theft on a massive scale in this country. We have dulled our sensibilities in order to overlook the reality of it. How could I vote to take something I have not earned away from someone who earned it without also being a theif? It defies logic, and yet there are millions of Americans who applaud this kind of crime.
The next time you are discussing a government program with someone, think of this. The next time someone suggests that what we need is to tax the 'greedy' and 'rich' to pay for state programs, remember this. By voting to take from some to give to others, we are not only stealing their property, we are also violating their rights and making them essentially slaves to the subsequent and never-ending programs we rely on them to support. As Americans, their liberty and freedoms are just as important as anyone else's. Where will the line be drawn between those who can enjoy their legal theft, and those who must surrender their property for it? This is a slippery slope, and it seems that the entire system will need to collapse before Americans will be able to break their addiction to practice legal theft. When will the last man stop showing up for dinner?
We cannot separate our choices and their natural consequences. Though many today try to do just that, it is impossible. We cannot enslave one portion of the population to provide for another without consequences. We cannot envy the wealth and good fortune of another person without suffering the consequences of what envy does to the soul. We cannot spend beyond our means, and then expect those who have been wise with their money to pick up the tab when we are unable to pay. We cannot expect those who are taken advantage of to just sit by and wait for all that they have earned to be taken and given to someone not of their choosing. Those who have become the provider class in our country will soon leave, and then what will the dependant class do?
There is a story that illustrates this perfectly. 10 friends go out to dinner once a week. One day, one of the men is unable to go because he is having financial trouble, so the others offer to pitch in and pay for his dinner. Soon another is unable to come because of a lack of money, and the other 8 pitch in for his dinner, also. Soon there are others who feel that there are others in the group could can afford to pick up their tabs as well. As time goes on, all but one of the friends have found one excuse or another not to pay for their meal. The day of their weekly dinner arrives, and the one who was supposed to pay the tab doesn't show up, and everyone goes hungry.
When will we take notice when we make a decision like this? Most of us are guilty of taking advantage of available 'programs' from time to time. How many of us have considered the cost? What do these 'free' programs do to those who are forced to pay for them? If someone who has an abundance of food wants to share it with others, it is called charity. If someone who has an abundance of food is forced at the point of a gun to give it to someone not of their choosing, that is theft. And yet we perpetrate this crime of legal theft on a massive scale in this country. We have dulled our sensibilities in order to overlook the reality of it. How could I vote to take something I have not earned away from someone who earned it without also being a theif? It defies logic, and yet there are millions of Americans who applaud this kind of crime.
The next time you are discussing a government program with someone, think of this. The next time someone suggests that what we need is to tax the 'greedy' and 'rich' to pay for state programs, remember this. By voting to take from some to give to others, we are not only stealing their property, we are also violating their rights and making them essentially slaves to the subsequent and never-ending programs we rely on them to support. As Americans, their liberty and freedoms are just as important as anyone else's. Where will the line be drawn between those who can enjoy their legal theft, and those who must surrender their property for it? This is a slippery slope, and it seems that the entire system will need to collapse before Americans will be able to break their addiction to practice legal theft. When will the last man stop showing up for dinner?
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