Are we this pathetic?

by Michael Calpino

Michael Calpino

President Obama has now tried to jump start negotiations over the debt ceiling by stating that he could not guarantee government checks for Social Security, veterans benefits, and military pay, to name a few, will go out on time in August if the debt ceiling is not raised. Obviously, this is a scare tactic to get all those government dependents across the land, a majority of us unfortunately, to pressure their congressmen to agree to something. Raising current taxes or reducing future benefits, it doesn’t matter to most people, as long as that government money is in the account on the first of the month. Whether the threat is real or not, the fact is there are a lot of people across the land for whom even the threat of not receiving their government benefits on time raises the specter of real privation.

How sad. How absolutely pathetic. How did the wealthiest nation in the history of mankind fall to the point where the majority of its citizens depend on a pitiful allowance consisting of money stolen from others or borrowed from future generations? How did we come to the point where the ineptitude of our national leaders can impact whether or not we can buy groceries next week? How did we allow ourselves to become so dependent on our masters in Washington that when they so mismanage their financial affairs as to bring us to bankruptcy, the serfs on the land will be reduced to absolute poverty?

Liberty, that antiquated idea that this country was founded upon, is the idea that each man will make choices about his life and he will either benefit from the results or suffer for them. He and he alone. His prosperity or poverty is based only on his decisions and hard work. Your prosperity or poverty should be based only on your decisions and hard work. It should not be based on what happens in Washington, things you have no control over. Our destiny, our ability to meet our basic needs, and our ability to secure our future, should reside within ourselves, our hearts and minds.

Oh, how far the mighty have fallen. Strong, independent American men and women who once viewed obstacles as challenges and whose hard work and persistence built a nation out of the wilderness have been reduced to sniveling beggars who grovel before their masters in Washington, begging them to continue their idiocy just a little longer so they can have their bowls filled with poisonous gruel.

Where are you standing? If the checks stop coming in August will you quickly slide into homelessness and hunger? Does your entire life depend on receiving stolen and borrowed money from the government? It doesn’t matter if the president was lying about the ability to pay benefits or not. The question is whether or not your survival depends on the goodwill of Washington and its ability to continue its financial insanity. We will all suffer when that insanity comes to its logical conclusion whether in August or the next month or year. However, the more independent and better prepared you are, the better position you will be not only to weather the storm but provide a beacon of liberty to show your neighbors the way forward.

“They are obscure, unorganized, inarticulate, each one rubbing along as best they can. They need to be encouraged and braced up, because when everything has gone completely to the dogs, they are the ones who will come back and build a new society, and meanwhile your preaching will reassure them and keep them hanging on. Your job is to take care of the Remnant.”

                              Albert Jay Nock