Hope and Opportunity
Since early in its history, the United States of America has been known as the nation of freedom and hope and opportunity… not just for its native countrymen… but also for people who could emigrate, become full-fledged citizens of our great country, and pursue their dreams. The U.S. was one of the very few places in the world where the government was not oppressive… it provided individual liberties and a free enterprise environment where opportunity abounded and, when its citizens worked hard and prospered, did not impose onerous taxes on the rewards they earned for their efforts. This circumstance fueled hope and energized people to achieve remarkable success.
Less than 100 years ago, an income tax was instituted to help fund the federal government. While it started out as an arguably small, reasonable tax… as with any cocktail mixing money and politics… it opened a door that has been mightily exploited. Today’s complex tax code and the rates associated with it bear no resemblance at all to its original incarnation.
Similarly, little or no regulation on early business activity led to abuse by a few and, in response, regulations began to be put into place to “protect the people”. All well and good, except regulations don’t always have the intended effect… while one may prevent some previous abuse, it may actually promote some other activity just as bad. Worse, sometimes, the law (regulation) is purposely designed to arbitrarily disadvantage one industry (giving the “edge” to another).
Before going further, let me affirm that SOME taxes and SOME regulation are undoubtedly good… both for the government and for the people. At some point along the continuum between ZERO and 100%, however, a line is crossed that transcends from acceptable to unacceptable… and it should be clear that I think the line is nearer zero than the other end of the scale.
Also, SOME limitations on freedom are necessary: restricting freedom of speech and the example of shouting fire in a crowded theater comes to mind. But, it should be obvious, I don’t want the government to take away my rights as defined in the Constitution.
Over time, bit by bit, taxes on both individuals and businesses have increased… regulations on both business and individuals have increased… and challenges to our freedoms have increased. As hard as it might be to imagine, there are people who do NOT love the very things that made our country great. Indeed, they do not love our country. They are either self-serving individuals concerned only about things that benefit themselves (even at the expense of others or our country) or are in outright opposition to our country and making a concerted effort to destroy it (or change it into something that fits THEIR model… which is quite different than its true history). The battle against these forces is constant.
It is the DUTY of every true citizen to preserve the principles that ARE our country. We must stand up and defend it at every turn. Apathy will fail; action will work. If we do not SPEAK OUT and DEFEND the philosophy upon which our powerful nation was built, it will crumble… one foundational “brick” at a time… until we no longer have a great structure but a historical ruin. WE can prevent this… but it will take continual effort on our part.
The future of the United States depends on YOU (and me).
