Monday, February 21, 2011

The Money Tree Runneth Dry – Welcome to Reality

Burdensome entitlements, big government guarantees and a crippling debt. This is the current and unsustainable path that our government is on.

I’ve said this before, but it’s worth saying again. Our Declaration declares that we are, “. . . endowed by their [our] Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

This unalienable right to pursue happiness is a gift given to us from our Creator to individually attain honorably, not a guaranteed right provided by an overbearing government.

Our Constitution – a document that is restrictive in its nature toward government – opens by proclaiming that:

"We the people of the Unites States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Unites States of America."

These basic services in which our Union provides its citizenry gives no guarantees of financial stability, no assurances of a big government safety net through bailouts and no promises of healthcare bankrolled through onerous taxes. It only declares that we have the right to live peacefully, secure in the knowledge that our Union will maintain a robust infrastructure and strong national defense.

The social programs which have amassed over the past and current century are accelerating toward a breaking point. Reformers like Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin are demonized by the nannie state supporters and big union thugs for making hard and needed choices. Why? Because like a smoker in need of a fix, free money can be intoxicating, but over time, that fix becomes a debilitating disease that cripples the people receiving it.

These generous handouts are subsidized by the tax payer, and our ranks are much larger than any labor union demanding a free ride. Our redistributed dollars can only go so far. And at the cost of roads, border security and national defense, our guaranteed entitlements are ruining those proclaimed “Blessings of Liberty” while increasing and accommodating the desires of people in need of a fix through the transfer of wealth.

Knowing this, I think we can all agree that painful cuts and reforms need to be made. We need to step back and look at the reality of the situation. After all, money doesn’t grow on trees.

ER

Middle East Turmoil Map

With more and more mid-east countries joining in on anti-government protests, it's becoming more difficult to keep track of what's going on over there. The Washington Post has put together a graph and timeline of the current turmoil.

- Washington Post: Middle East Turmoil
- FoxNews : Crude on the way up

ER