Mike Huckabee spoke of wanting to do more than continue to be poor while waiting for the government to come rescue him. I could not agree more. Having a spirit of entitlement can do nothing for this country except to hurt it. Early in our history, it was a spirit of entitlement that caused men to believe that they had the right to force other men to work for them as slaves. When abolitionists demanded the end of slavery, how many men said “ but, how will I run my farm without my slaves?” it is the same spirit that says “how will I have the things I want if the government doesn’t step in and help”. Charity is important, we must help those who can not help themselves, but while we have the right to pursue any path that we would choose, while we are free from a caste system that says you can never rise above your station, we do not have the right to have everything provided for us from the government. We have the right to work, to produce, to achieve the best that we can with what we have been given. We have the right to be treated equally, but not the right to own things we didn’t earn ourselves. The American economy will not completely recover to be all that it can be until we understand that in the words of Thomas Jefferson, “we can not be a truly free nation, unless we are a truly moral nation”. Each person must learn a lesson from our history, and take personal responsibilty for the choices that we make. This simple step, if taken by all Anerican’s would rectigy much of the problems that this nation faces. Health care for example, if people would take responsibility for the choices and stop trying to blame cigarette manufacturers for lung cancer, or McDonald’s for weight problems, if we would realize that these things are preventable and make better choices fewer people would need to be treated for these diseases and money could be diverted elsewhere. If Dr,’s did not fear frivolous law suits then they would not need as much insurance, and with out paying all that insurance, the Dr. could charge less in fees. We must realize that we are responsible for our own choices, and that everything we do affects those around us. None of us live in a bubble. We are all connected and must live as such.
