At first glance you might assume this title to be an egregious error. Please stay with me, in this new century, we American citizens may celebrate the 4th of July not as “Independence Day” but as “Dependence Day”. We are fast becoming that kind of country. Life has increasingly become a search for a “sugar daddy” governmental angle which, for many, will take care of their daily needs, at least the financial ones. Welfare benefits with it’s pyramid of bureaucracy, the disability lifestyle, food stamps, housing assistance, the unemployment lifestyle, false disability insurance claims and excessive taxpayer funded salaries, benefits and pensions, have all exploded in the last four years of President O’bama.
These programs are no longer disrespected in our country. In fact, those who work and earn their own living are considered saps when compared to this new national ethic. Are we to forget about individual initiative, creativity, personal responsibility, risk, courage and dreaming beyond our own personal circumstances? Are we to expect our government to make personal financial failure the remotest of possibilities? The growth of big governmental programs would seem to indicate that our citizenry wants that kind of Americana. The voter says to each political personage, “what can you do for me?” The question has always been a part of our politics but in our present self absorbed culture, has not the citizen voter become blind to any of the other greater American values like patriotism, community, sacrifice and a shared understanding of the common good? What or who is your sugar daddy?
In the upcoming presidential election we are staring at the same politic used by the Democrats to win the election of Jerry Brown as Governor of California in 2010. An election that will happen this time on the national stage. On Brown’s team were the big government forces that included the hard political left, the public sector unions, the welfare crowd and the influence of the ethnic minorities. President O’bama is now busy rallying all these same forces in the hope that they will do for him what they did for Governor Moonbeam. All these voters have a financial interest in a bigger government that promises to take care of the people and supposedly meet their every desire.
Will such a political strategy work on the national stage? We shall see but a dependent America is not the historical America that we older citizens have treasured. Our time is fast passing to be an influence upon younger generations and the future America. Those Americans who follow us have the right and ultimately will decide this issue and design America anew. As difficult as it may be, freeing the youngsters to decide and letting go of the future of America is a part of the life cycle. But for now, as far as this writer is concerned, America will not have a “sugar daddy government” that makes Americans dependent persons.
G.Goslaw
Landers, CA
