The United States of America has always been 'The Great Melting Pot' of the worlds cultures. We need to take a time out and reexamine what made that possible. A few great documents: The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. How many people actually know what's in them? Or taken the time to just read them over? I've been fortunate to lay my eyes on originals in the National Archives in Washington DC. For it to continue to be the melting pot it is, we need to celebrate all cultures, but adhere to our own. If people come here to make a life, then they need to embrace our culture of diversity. That doesn't mean that Muslims need to become Christians, or Jewish start eating pork, what it does mean is that all of those people need to respect one another's choices and liberties. We as a nation can not take any of our liberties for granted.
Benjamin Franklin opined that "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety". So quickly are we to judge others and attack their liberties on the actions of few. All too often these are misguided by passion. Due diligence and thoughtfulness are cast aside by the apparent need for action.
I heard on the radio a person that was talking about her ex-husband who happened to be a police officer. She said he had the misguided notion that everyone was a 'dirtbag' because that just happened to be all that he dealt with on a daily basis. Our individual views are clouded by the people we deal with on a daily basis. We start to look at everyone in our minds eye as the individuals we come in contact with. Politicians come in contact with other politicians. They deal with individuals all day, every day, that want something from them. They are no longer working for us, they are merely peddling their wares to the highest bidder. We are beneath them. They throw us just enough to secure a vote from us. Now in the case of the agenda of the left it's free things.
Back to Ben Franklin "I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."
Are not the poor becoming poorer with this agenda pushed by the liberals? Look at the statistics, more on welfare than at any other time in our history. I know that it goes against their brand of 'common' sense but the numbers are out there for all to see:
This is eroding our self reliance. It puts a price on elections in a way that was never intended. People now vote for the talking head that will hand out the most stuff. Clearly almost 1/3 of the populace in the pocket of the person that promises a free cheese sandwich. To put it in another perspective, there are about 143,000,000 people employed full-time or part-time in the U.S. So, welfare to work ratio is about 1 worker to every 1.5 people on welfare. Pretty soon we are all going to be on some form of welfare and the totalitarian model will come completely to fruition. This report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics will just about make you sick. But, don't believe me, according to Obama and his ilk..everything is just hunky dory.
That's my two cents, spend 'em or put 'em in the dish for the next person.
