Should the Government protect me from Failing?
Can it protect me from failing?
Many people are looking to the government to safely navigate them through this current economic down turn: Protect their job; get them a better paying job; an education; better health care; a secure retirement. President Obama said last week “our current problem is one that only government can solve.” Is that true? Based on the lack of outcry over the latest “bail out” plan, it is clear to me that most people believe it is true.
I see it differently. My struggles and my failures have forced me to make valuable adjustments that I would likely never have made. I avoid pain and struggle as much as any one, but at the same time I realize that a life with no struggle would be the greater disappointment.
I see this government expansion as a willing step by the American people to get some safety from personal loss in exchange for some personal freedoms. Less free to live with out dependence on Federal government. Less free to make decisions and deal with the consequences, good or bad. Less free to succeed and fail multiple times in my life.
It is true, with current government expansion we are less free. I have always appreciated the passion for freedom that our founding fathers held. Benjamin Franklin is quoted, “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security deserves neither and will lose both.”
Don’t get me wrong, I am not despairing of the current state of the economy. I am simply applying what I know to be true to the current events. I believe we have taken a step in the wrong direction. I want stand up for what I believe and speak up when I see it challenged.
Another good quote from President Ronald Reagan
“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, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
Stay in touch,
Steve