If you were to think about what a dollar really is, what is it that you would say? Is it simply a combination of materials such as cotton and paper that you buy stuff with, or is it a promissory note backed by our government that represents something more? Isn’t a dollar in fact, a note of traded currency that represents your personal property, property in the form of your expended effort earning that dollar? I think that if people were really to start thinking of dollars as a note that represents our “time”, they may become a little more concerned about the ruthlessness with which our government takes & wastes our time. If the government decides it is within their power to take “dollars” from one group of people and give them to another group of people, aren’t they really stealing “time” from one group and giving it to somebody else? I see this as a sick form of slavery.
We are at a point in our country’s history where the language has been so bastardized, that people actually do not know that we are a constitutional republic as opposed to a democracy. A “democracy” is a government wherein the decisions are made by the masses of the people rather than by elected officials. A “republic” on the other hand is a system in which laws are passed and decisions are made by the elected representatives of the people. [The Five Thousand Year Leap] Our constitution is then in place to lay out what the government can and can not do. This system was established for many reasons, not the least of which, so that there would be checks and balances in power, and so our laws would not be subject to the fluctuating and superficial emotions of the people. This system however, has become so abused, that politicians have realized that they can use the masses, who have learned that they can vote themselves a check, to stay in power.
Our government was never supposed to be in the business of charity. I don’t care what you call it, welfare, income transfer payments, subsidies, social security, medicare, Medicaid & on & on, these are all forms of redistribution of wealth, and they are absolutely killing our country. “The problem with socialism, is eventually you run out of other people’s’ money”~Margaret Thatcher. This is so true, and if you don’t think it is true, there are many examples throughout history that undeniably prove it. Whether considering the more militant forms of socialism (communism, nazism & fascism) which have caused more war and bloodshed than any other form of government in history or Democratic Socialism or Fabian Socialism which produce a perpetual state of poverty and bankruptcy, they never work!! The United States of America has enjoyed a more even and greater standard of living than any nation in the history of the world because of our economic freedom. Unfortunately, due to the liberal/socialist policies of our federal government, we find ourselves at a tipping point, teetering on bankruptcy as a country.
Starting in the early 1900’s, politicians like Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, just to name a couple, began implementing policies that basically made it the government’s job to take care of everybody, both domestically and worldwide. These socialist policies are disguised as compassion, but make no mistake, they are simply an effort to increase the size and scope of government. Unfortunately, people do not begin to realize until too late the “law of unintended consequences” when it comes to such policies. This is because, one can begin to justify almost anything when they are the ones getting the check. For example, the great economist and author Dr.Walter E. Williams has said that, “welfare did to the black family what oppression and slavery could not, it broke it apart”.
Lets take the quote by Dr. Williams as an example. Since LBJ started implementing his “great society” and waged war on poverty, the deleterious effects have been staggering. To quickly sum it up, we as a country have spent trillions of dollars on welfare and income transfer payments, and what we have really accomplished was fathers leaving the home, or never establishing one to begin with, because the government was paying more than they could provide. This has led to generations of impoverished single family households, massive amounts of fraud and abuse, and more people of each generation dependent upon government than the next. It doesn’t matter what ethnic group you come from, becoming addicted to this type of government dependence enslaves & limits people to a life of just getting by. Please take the time to read some of the writings by Dr. Walter E. Williams for more about this.
Another example of socialist government interference having negative consequences is minimum wage laws. Now, one might wonder, “how could minimum wage be bad?” Well, by the government forcing such requirements upon business, it decreases opportunity for younger generations to become employed & acquire much-needed experience. It simply makes more sense for an employer to hire someone who already has work experience, may be more mature and more stable. This not only takes its toll upon younger generations trying to enter the workforce, but on all less skilled and qualified people in general. By the government forcing “minimum wages” upon an employer, it only makes sense that employers seek the greatest amount of productivity they can for the dollars they are forced to spend. This in turn proves to be to the detriment of those who are less skilled and less capable. What kind of compassion is that?
I could go on and on about this, but the point I am trying to make is this; If I have a dollar, and I earned that dollar through some type of effort that I expended through work or investment, is it right that the government take part of that dollar and give it to someone else who did not expend any effort at all? In a report by trimtabs investment group, social welfare benefits make up 35 percent of wages and salaries this year, up from 21 percent in 2000 and 10 percent in 1960. These so-called “benefits” have increased by $514 billion in the past two years under Barak Obama, and we now have a record number of people receiving government assistance, by a longshot. No matter who you ask, this type of government dependence is in no way, shape or form sustainable. Not to mention, this type of redistribution of wealth is thievery, it is extortion through force, and it is wrong!!
So, I ask you again, what does a dollar represent to you?
Wilksopinion.com 