Government Imposed Burden of Dependence

E-Mail to Rep. Neugebauer:

In your latest newsletter, you said, "To get America back on track we must restore our Founders’ principle of empowerment, relying on a more limited government, personal freedom and responsibility and greater choices and opportunity. We need more certainty in the economy and we must prevent tax hikes that will devastate small businesses and working families. It’s time the Administration realizes that the federal government doesn’t create jobs, businesses do. We have to let American companies do what they do best: create jobs and stimulate the economy. It’s time for Americans to take up their own wagons and get this nation on the way to real recovery."

I believe most of us already know all this. In other words, you may be preaching to the converted.

On the other hand, your audience may not be uniform in its ideology. There may be many who like the benefits of handouts from the federal government and paid for by other people. For those, we can quote Pogo who said, "We have met the enemy and they are us".

If your intention, with your above statement, is to start reeducating people against socialistic ideology, your attempts are too feeble. They must be more direct and pragmatic.

For example, the disadvantages of accepting government handouts must be specified. They generally fall into a single category, which is that there is "no free lunch". Every time you accept something from government, you give something in return. The thing you generally give is your independence and right to your own destiny. Government takes that from you piece by piece. This was the land of opportunity. No longer. Government has imposed so many restrictions on what you can do at the present time, that there is little opportunity to do anything except sit tight, receive, and amuse yourself with television or drugs. People need to be informed concerning the fact that this has been happening to them through the years. All government benefits come at a cost. That cost is essentially independence and opportunity.

Many years ago I was a cigarette smoker. I knew I was addicted to nicotine, and I didn't like it. It was controlling my life, and I didn't like giving up that independence. It was for that strong reason that I was able to give up cigarette smoking. I am happy to now be able to have that semblance of independence by being free of a burden. Unfortunately, government has taken much of other facets of my life away, and it continues to get worse. This occurred not because of any direct action on my part, but rather because I wasn't paying attention to an imposition of an outside (government) force. Is it too late for me to do anything about it? Will I be forced to watch television and use drugs, because government has given me no other alternative?