Another Election year is upon us and like the last one, it is the worst I have ever seen in my lifetime. Our President in my opinion, is a man who sincerely believes what he is doing is right. His policies are Socialist and he firmly believes that government running things and having the populace dependent on government for everything is what is best to bring economic equality to the United States.
I happen to disagree. First, there will never be economic equality in society. There are those who have a desire to succeed and those that are happy to work for others and that is alright. There is a new class in America today brought on by the entitlement mentality our government has force fed us.
The Constitution says "all men are created equal". What exactly does that mean? I can tell you what it does NOT mean. It does not mean that all men are to make the same pay and the government will take from those who have to give to those who have not. It means that ALL MEN (and WOMEN)have the equal opportunity to make what they will of themselves. If I choose to go into business for myself, then I can. If I make it then I can reap the benefits of my efforts. If I fail, then I will suffer the loss and that is alright too.
Somewhere along the way, perhaps due to our sordid history as a nation when slavery was indeed legal and profitable; we have decided that anyone who ever had a reason to be claim they had no advantages to get ahead is OWED something. The problem with that is that firstly, no one is OWED anything.
Slavery was wrong and it was a horrific practice. However, over 160 years have passed since the practice was abolished and the Emancipation Proclaimation was signed. Affirmative action was established and there are laws in place to prevent discrimination. In fact, laws have been created so that now the classes that were once maligned are now given an unfair advantage over all other classes. Discrimination is and should be a crime. However, it should also be a crime to say that 160 years after the fact that the class who held the slaves should still be at a disadvantage because of something that happened nearly three generations ago.
It is absurd in this day and age to say that anyone is OWED anything other than the opportunity to succeed or fail on our own merits. I have heard the argument that those living in the inner cities, on government subsidies, have no hope of succeeding without government handouts. To say that those successful people who are wealthy, whether by inheritance or their own hard work, owe the poor a portion of their wealth or that because of their wealth, they continue to keep the poor, poor is a fallacy.
Microsoft was started in a recession. Bill Gates is now one of the wealthiest men in America and he GIVES away his fortune. No one has to force it from him, he gave and continues giving because it is human nature to help the less fortunate. On the other hand, it is human nature to hoard what you have when someone tries to take it against your will.
To say that the poor have no way of getting out of their circumstances is ridiculous as well. Some of the poorest people have become the wealthiest in America. Take Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart and Sam's Clubs. He was a poor Arkansan who worked hard and built an empire that is a global monolith. Sam Walton had no advantages over anyone else. If anything, he could have claimed that being from the poor south he had a disadvantage. Yet, this man of no means became the richest man in America before he died. He chose to rise above his means and he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.
I was born to a poor family and was raised by a single mother who worked in a sewing mill to put food on the table. This was before food stamps, WIC, Medicaid, and other government subsidies (now called "Entitlements") and even if they had been available, my mother would never have taken them.
If it had not been for the thriftiness of my mother and the help of her FAMILY, then we would have been doomed to poverty for life--according to todays mentality. My mother raised 4 children on what she made in the sewing factory with no support from my father. Her mother and sister gave us refuge when she first left my dad for a few months. Then for years we lived in what we called "the projects"--government subsidized housing. It was not until I was 14 that my mother and my step-dad bought the first house we ever owned.
My mother could have claimed poverty, and lived on what she earned, the family gave us and in the housing subsidized by the government. However, she decided that she could rise above her means. She worked hard at her job, was promoted to supervisor and eventually went back to school getting her GED and graduating the same year as my older sister. She then went to beauty school. Later in life she became a retail manager and spent the last 20 working years doing that. My point is that she could have just accepted her lot in life and continued to wallow in poverty but she chose to do something in life and get off her tail and not feel sorry for herself. She was never rich, but she overcame her poverty and ended up as a middle class citizen. My mother, a staunch Democrat, never once felt like anyone OWED her anything but a chance.
I had two brothers and a sister growing up. Only my sister went to college and graduated--and that after she was married and had children of her own. I, who from the projects,rose above my means and became a successful businessman. I have owned partnerships in two businesses at an early age and now, after 22 years with my company, I have risen to the top position available to me. As V.P. of Operations, I answer to the President of the company.
I could easily said that since my parents couldn't afford college, I was doomed to be poor. Even though there were more government programs available to me than to my mother, I chose to work hard and I believed that my hard work would pay off. Sometimes it did and at other times, I felt I was taken advantage of. When I felt that way, rather than complain how unfair my bosses were, I chose another place of work where I felt I had a better chance to succeed.
The unemployment rate in the US is about 8% now and as a businessman, I can tell you that there are jobs out there. Granted, the jobs are not all high paying jobs but if someone truly wanted to work, they could. The problem today is that the government teat is too lucrative for people to work when they can easily sit at home and draw as much benefits as someone making $35,000 a year. As a matter of fact, they are penalized if they do work. A minimum wage job could cost them all of their food stamps or medical assistance. This is how the government keeps people dependant on itself. Instead of giving them the benefits IF they get a job, we take them away IF they work. This is WRONG!!!!
We as a society should assist those less fortunate and the government taxes we pay should go for part of that assistance but, as Former President Clinton said--Welfare should be a Hand UP, Not a HAND OUT. So long as we penalize people FOR working, then we will continue having the poor class and as long as the government and our President continue to blame the rich for keeping the poor that way, we will continue haveing a CLASS Warfare like Occupy Wall Street.
Bill Gates and Sam Walton did not make me poor, and they did not Keep me poor by making money for themselves. I was poor because of decisions my family made prior to my birth and I am no longer poor because I Chose to Rise Above my means and get off my rear end and WORK!
Our government, BOTH parties, have created an "Entitlement Mentality" in America and we no longer give people an incentive to get up and work themselves out of poverty. In fact, if we continue to TAX the Rich to the point of people giving up their citizenship to retain what they rightfully earned, then we as a society will crumble just as every great nation before us.
This November, we have a means to turn this country around and make it strong again. No matter your affiliation, vote for people that are for LESS Government and who will create Jobs and give incentives to the Job providers to stay here and grow. We need to weed out the officials who want to keep Class Warfare alive and who will give incentive to our citizens to take a chance. We can choose to accept the Status Quo and continue the Great Division our current President and Congress have begun, or we can choose to Rise above our means. TODAY I CHOOSE TO RISE ABOVE!
