IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray
#195
August 19, 2014
“Spit or Choke?”
Recently, I listened intently as a man who had done considerable research compared ancient Rome with the United States. Rome was the major world power of its day, but its demise came nonetheless. Are we next in line?
A combination of unchecked immigration, excessive subsidies of the poor and rampant overspending finally brought the magnificent power to an end.
The steady growth of Rome came from monitored immigration. Newcomers had to speak the language and adapt to cultural norms. It all worked beautifully for a long time. Then an emerging threat came from Northern Europe, flooding hordes of refugees into the Roman Empire and saturating it with unskilled laborers who sapped the government’s resources.
Of course, all of us (except the Native America tribes) trace our roots to immigrant forebears. Yet the attitude of the times was so different from that of today. I remember my grandfather telling the story of his family. They left LeHarve, France, aboard a huge boat and eventually settled in Kansas. First, they scraped together as tenant farmers and later moved to Illinois. There, my grandfather became an electrical engineer. The first order of the day once they set foot on American soil was to learn and master English. They did — as did countless other families.
Assimilation proved to be the key to success. Yet, sadly, today we see our store signage, many government forms, and even the Social Security Offices chock full of pamphlets in many different languages. We won’t secure our borders. I say, “won’t” because it is hard for me to believe that we can’t. We just don’t. Neither will we demand that English is the language of the country. Oh, that’s right, we might offend someone. Go figure….
Incidentally, English is the language of all air traffic control — worldwide. While it may be hard to master for foreigners, it can be mastered. Those who learn English meld into the population far easier and succeed at a higher rate than those who do not. Common values and common interests only strengthen a nation. Division, on the other hand, only weakens a nation.
Is it unreasonable to ask those seeking freedom and opportunity to learn to speak English? It is unreasonable for us to ask that they work and pay their own way. Oh, I forgot, we don’t even ask that of able-bodied people who find a way to live off the system. Wow. Incentive is gone. It wasn’t three generations ago. Incentive was alive and well.
What happened in these last two generations? Well, there has been a creeping undercurrent of “Uncle Sam will do it for you” implied in program after program. The spurring incentive that propelled Americans to greatness has been replaced by an almost venomous invective. If you criticize any part of the “nanny state”, you are cruel and unfeeling. You’ve seen the films of the insurance investigators taking movies of people carrying large boxes while drawing disability for back problems. Scams live well in today’s world.
Standards for disability dropped precipitously under the current administration, and some actuaries claim that if a person takes advantage of as many government programs as possible, they would earn the equivalent of $60,000 per year. Not bad for sitting back on one’s backside, is it?
The average working American watches the federal government spending money hand over fist and then he or she must choke up the taxes to pay for that excess. This cannot continue unabated. Paying up with be a nasty business. And just what excuse will be given to the generations unborn saddled with the bill? That will be an interesting conversation.
Am I preaching to the choir? Probably, but it just breaks my heart to see what is happening to my country. Are we truly the land of the free? I wonder for how long.
We see our freedoms disappearing. If a law won’t pass muster in the Congress, then “executive orders” skirt the legislative branch and govern by virtual fiat. We are slipping ever closer to an autocracy and those who scream against it are called anarchists and accused of losing their minds.
Well, it’s not their minds they are losing. It’s their country.
You better not get too accustomed to your utility rates. When the coal-fired power plants shut down, you will be in for a shock — and not an electrical one. Little by little and chip by chip, the incessant reach of an unrestrained — and grossly ignored — executive branch gnaws away at the tree of freedom of choice.
Wasn’t it this bunch that said, “Never let a crisis go to waste?” Well, they revel in any crisis situation. Now, how — as citizens and voters — will we handle the spending crisis, folks? This mid-term election should ignite a fire under anyone working and those retirees who can see the forest for the trees — in this case a forest fire! Maybe, it’s time we fired the majority in the Senate and brought the more than a hundred or so bills to the floor. Those bills have been sitting in a pile, put there by one Harry Reid, a stellar example of how not to be a legislator. Oh, he is the first one to claim that the GOP is responsible for all the inaction, but he refuses to even bring their bills to the floor. And there is more than one reason. It’s not just that he wants them to look bad, it’s because his fellow Democrats would have a hard time voting against sensible bills designed to jump start the economy — not the least of which is The Keystone Pipeline.
This is not the time to sit back and stew about the ballooning of federal regulation and overreach. Get out there and encourage everyone you know to get out the vote.
It’s up to us in the end. Nobody in authority seems to be interested in addressing the growth of federal power. Meanwhile, that debt clock just advances interminably. Will we spit it out or choke on it?