I was in my teens when Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered and the Civil Rights Act was signed by Lyndon Johnson. Growing up in the Southwest U.S., I had never really seen much in the way of racial segregation. I had a black friend in high school that I played football with. I know there were some that felt some bias toward him but I really didn't notice it. When another young black man who had graduated from our high school was killed in Viet Nam, everyone in school mourned his death.
Granted, teenagers can be a bit naive. I know I was. But it sure seems there have been big changes in the last 40 years. As a youth I heard of the the Black Panthers, the Weatherman movement and the SDS. We heard about Black Power from bigots like the Black Panthers and White Power from bigots harking back to before the Civil War or the Nazis.
Now today we hear about "Pride". White Pride, Black Pride, Gay Pride, Lesbian Pride, Hispanic Pride, Indian Pride, "Name Your" Pride. Or perhaps a hyphen is more to one's liking: Spanish-American, African-American, Native-American, Irish-American, "Some other kind of"-American. What happened to just being an "American-American", first and last? Since 1968 segregation in all forms has been illegal, but we continue to find ways to separate and even segregate ourselves. Why? What in the world is wrong with us?
Do you think it may have something to do with the entitlement life style that has been promoted by the Federal Government since 1935 with the inception of Social Security? For the last 75 years we have been deluged with 'entitlement' programs to help the poor (Welfare, Medicaid, Housing Projects, Title I) and the aged (Medicare, Social Security) as just a few examples. There is one problem with this. You must segregate yourself as a poor person or an 'old guy' to gain the benefits. Of course, there are many other examples that could be made but I think you can see the point. To become a part of one of these entitled groups often requires that you must see yourself as a 'victim' of something or someone. Minimum Wage Laws create victims of 'big business' that are oppressing the common worker and keep them down. Welfare laws require you to make sure that you live in poverty so you can collect those monthly checks, a victim of 'the system' or perhaps 'big business' again. There is a fundamental problem and as usual there are 2 sides to this problem. They may not be what you think.
One side is the Government. For us to become victims there must be someone to victimize us. The progressive government therefore must create these enemies. Enemies of the people that include 'big' business, 'bad' heath insurance companies, 'evil' conservatism, 'anti'-environmentalism, 'big' oil companies, and the list goes on. It is imperative that the 'government' (read that as politicians trying to justify their existence) must have 'victims' to be recipients of there 'largess' with our tax money.
The other side is the Victim. First and foremost we must be willing to be victimized. Second we must be willing to give up our freedom of self-governance or self-determination to those who want to 'give' us these great 'benefits'. It also requires us to petition the 'Government' to include us as a victim somewhere. Why would anyone do this to themselves?
I see, again, 2 reasons. Greed and laziness. The urge among men and women to 'get something for nothing' is very strong and the more we get the better. When I say laziness I don't mean the kind where we sit on the front porch and watch the world go by, although sometimes that is what it becomes. I mean the mental and moral laziness to take responsibility for oneself.
It does take 2 to tango. You can't have an entitlement without a victim. You can't have a victim without blaming someone.
Our Founding Fathers declared "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." They never promised us that we would be happy nor that we would have 'happiness thrust upon us'. The also declared that we are, in the eyes of the Creator, equal because He has given all of us these rights. These rights are the basis of self-determination, or personal responsibility. This is the great truth discovered by the Founders: we are responsible for ourselves and we have rights given from the Creator to be so.
May God Bless America and our Military
