A reasonable argument on why we may become Socialists.

I was sorting out my recycling this morning thinking about how this little bit I do helps. While placing a milk jug into a plastic bag I thought, by recycling this we are lessoning our dependency on foreign oil. I gathered up my weekend newspapers and placed them in another bag and thought, now Jane Goodall will not have me to blame this week for destroying valuable chimpanzee habitat, inadvertently causing a "domesticated" chimp named Travis to gnaw off a friendly face.

A month or so ago, Sarah and I put forth a plan to become greener. It was on our dry erase board attached to our refrigerator for a week or so. We thought about recycling plastic 4's, 5's and 6's but the nearest place to do so was 25 miles away so it seemed a waste. The best thing we felt we could do was encourage others to recycle. So we researched a bit so we would have information to share. The only one who bought it was Sarah's parents who agreed to collect if we sorted and delivered.  We cheered each other for our efforts. 

I am not a tree-hugging environmentalist or anything. I do pick up garbage I see, I try to recycle, I don't litter (no matter how hard I try, thank you for showing me my errors, darling) but I think EVERYONE agreed that they should recycle but didn't want to mess with cleaning it out, sorting it, storing it or delivering it to a recycling station.

Down there, sorting out my garbage, I thought about the people who don't recycle and their endless lists of excuses. This is what America has become, even though we know it needs to be done, we pass it along for an excuse. We don't hire an attorney to read our home loan and advise us because we don't have the money, we don't read it ourselves because we don't understand it. We can't do anything about the stimulus bill or gas prices, or job loss so we complain or hope it doesn't happen to us.

There is no initiative in American citizens to just go out and take care of what needs to be taken care of. We all see it, it is obvious but we pass the buck in hopes that someone else will get it done, we will even pay them! The answers on how to fix things are all around us. We wonder why our children are getting a terrible education at the local school and we blame administrators for not spending money properly and teachers for not teaching and other children for being children and never what more we citizens could have done. How did you vote it the last school levy? How many dollars in box-tops for education did you throw away last year?

Now here we are, with failing systems everywhere because no one wanted to do their share. So we look for someone to fix the schools, and save the environment, find me a job, pay my home loan, make sure I have heat next winter, put gas in my car, babysit my kids, put me though college, give me more, my share, I want what's mine. So the government steps in to help out and they give money to get what you think you need. The three new teachers or police officers you voted against having in your city last election because you didn't want to pay the tax are now delivered to you from our Uncle Sam who has deep pockets and lots of candy.

I see the federal government restricting what we citizens can do so that we never get in this situation again. They type of house, furniture or car we can purchase will be mandated. To most americans this seems like a far fetched idea but to our founding fathers it was a very real reality that they tried to protect us from. 

Author Tom Robbins defined politics as "the science of domination". Thomas Jefferson said "a government big enough to give you everything you need, is a government big enough to take everything you have".  I think we should be very carful of what we ask from our government and what we are willing to accept from them. The preamble of the U.S. Constitution says the function of the federal government is to "promote general welfare" not to provide it. I think by this standard the federal government has over stepped it's bounds. The idiom "give anyone and inch, and they will take a mile" means that when you allow someone to behave badly, they will behave VERY badly.

I would say the only way to take control of the situation that we citizens have found ourselves in, is to take control of our lives and create an environment that doesn't need fixing. Then I look at banks like J.P. Morgan Chase who did not give variable rate loans but were still forced to take bail out money. Now bankruptcy judges can change the rates of their loans when homeowners declare bankruptcy.  It seems to me that the federal government is interfering with free enterprise. It also appears that the federal government has put forth a measure that encourages or coerces citizens to declare bankruptcy without fear of losing their homes and keeping them at lower interest rated than they agreed to pay. John Stuart Mill defined liberty as the absence of coercion.

I am just trying to point out things within the last few months that make me think of the socialist road our government is taking us down. I do not think socialists are bad people, I think they really want to help. I just feel that they take away liberty of others in their attempts to help people. I think it is the job of our elected government to protect us from this, and I fear that has been forgotten. 

I will stand up when the question is asked "how did we come to this" and take the blame. It is my fault, I should have done more. I hope you take responsibility someday too.