Do you think of July 4th as backyard cookouts, big sales and fireworks? Or do you think of July 4th as independence day? The day that celebrates the freedoms that our founding fathers bestowed upon us. The blood that was shed, the misery, just to grant us freedom from oppressive rule. On Sept. 17, 1787, it also gave us the United States Constitution. That established the laws we should be governed by. Small government, of the people, by the people, for the people. Not this nanny state our legislators are trying to force upon us.
Quoting Thomas Paine, “beware the greedy hand of government, thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry.” Why is there such a shortage of jobs? The government is standing in the way and making it impossible for businesses to grow. With all this new legislation coming down the road, business is afraid to expand and hire. Healthcare, perhaps cap and trade, higher taxes, etc. etc. business owners cannot plan for the future. They just don’t know if they can afford the future. And if they can't, what happens? More job losses. Government just has no place in telling a small business person how to run that business. And it is the small business that creates those jobs.
Now, to quote Thomas Jefferson, “we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industerious.” “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” Pretense of taking care of them. That sounds to me like the redistribution of wealth. Taking from the haves and giving to the have nots (or who won’t). Yes, all men (and women) are created equal. But not to the point where Bill Gates makes my bank balance look as good as his. Why, because I don’t deserve it. I didn’t work for it. I don’t want something I didn't earn. Just because I am a living, breathing human, does not give me the right to the wealth of a Bill Gates. It is not up to the government to equal the playing field. That is an individuals choice. All men and women being created equal just means that everyone has the same opportunities in life. I didn’t have the foresight of Bill Gates. Yet, I am not a failure. The best job I have ever done in my lifetime is to raise an independent and successful child. Her dad and I gave her the freedom to make her own choices. If she failed at something, she learned a valuable lesson. Our greatest gift to her was independence. Much as our founding fathers was to us.
In my mind, ones success can only be measured by ones own ambitions. It doesn’t matter if it is a stay at home mom or CEO of some global company. You are what you make of yourself. Good or bad, it was your choice. And that is what the founding fathers had in mind for all our us. Your choice. The freedom that so many died for and are still doing so today, just so we can make that choice. Remember that when you are eating your hotdogs and hamburgers and watching the fireworks go off. Without our founding fathers, none of this would be possible. Say a little prayer for our troops while you are at it.
Dianne Joyce
Mount Airy
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