Editor,

Our United States of America is a very young nation, as nations go. Following our formation and for the next 150 years, people from around the world poured onto the shores of our fledgling nation without any enticement of social services or government assistances of any kind. They came here seeking the one thing no other nation could offer ... FREEDOM.

Freedom to decide where one would invest his time, talents and treasures; and for that freedom, many sacrificed all they had to be a part of the American experiment. As a result of these brave souls, America became the dominant world empire more quickly than any nation before her or since. She accomplished this feat not with aggressive military campaigns, but with the hard work of individuals applying themselves to the opportunities they were given.

To live in a free state, established upon Christian values and principles, allowed people from every race, nation and religion to venture here and start life anew for themselves and their children. Individuals understood that both the rewards and miseries of life were theirs to own; for there was no government safety net to catch them.

Their very survival depended upon their individual efforts coupled with their neighborliness. If they failed to be the right kind of person and were careless in their ways, they could little expect their neighbors to be there for them when they failed. Hence, the characteristic American was a person of high integrity, industrious, and kind.

Poverty wasn’t seen as a permanent station in life as it had been in many of their homelands. Instead, poverty was viewed as a temporary condition that could be overcome by application of those foundational principles of right and wrong. Sadly, for America, since the 1940s she has drifted far from these early days of glory. In the 1940s communist ideologies, founded upon the victim mentality, began to take root within many intellectual and Hollywood circles. Its influence began transforming America from an ethically superior culture to a nation of inward turmoil.

We began openly crying out for government to solve our woes and to make our lives better. Self reliance faded as government dependence grew ever more popular. Finally, during the days of President F. D. Roosevelt, the government, led by him, openly declared that IT would become the end to all men’s miseries. To accomplish this transformation, Roosevelt left those founding truths and principles of freedom: opportunity and self reliance; and replaced them with excessive mandatory taxation, government intervention and direction. No longer would Americans need to look to their God, themselves and their neighbors for answers … now they need only look at the United States Federal Government. FDR promised everything for everyone as long as they would go along with the “programs” he laid out.

Since then, as the saying goes, the rest is history. America has been on an ever steepening, downward plunge into slavery since then. Individual responsibility is rarely even spoken of. Nowadays, perfectly healthy men spend hours in strenuous recreational activities like hunting or fishing while claiming to be “totally disabled”. Lawyers, once the harbingers of truth, openly solicit “victims” through whom they can confiscate the wealth of others.

Artists boldly apply their craft to display and promote the vilest and most base afflictions of men. Public education has become captive to labor unions promoting associated agendas like political correctness instead of emphasizing subjects like history, civics and economics … subsequently “dumbing down” each succeeding generation; and on and on it goes, ever lower, ever further from the truth. So, we are left with a choice. Will we continue attempting to reform of a broken system of government dependency or will we forsake the moorings of communism and return again to the first principles of personal honesty, integrity, and character?

Few of us have the influence to affect policy in our own town, much less in Washington. But we do have the ability to change ourselves. We each can decide to no longer participate in the frauds around us. We can start calling a spade a spade.

If a neighbor is dishonestly getting government assistance; stand up and speak up; first to the neighbor, then to whoever should be notified. If we know someone is seeking a fraudulent lawsuit, expose their hypocrisy.

Read your children’s text books. If they are not to your liking, let the school know. I know we can stand up, speak up, and be America again. The legacy is ours to leave. Which will it be … bravery or slavery?

Gary Lee Corns

Logan