As promised, here's the letter I will be sending to my representatives in government:
---
Dear Senator/Representative/Governor,
As I write this, the day is July the Fourth. On this day, millions of Americans have been celebrating, with cookouts, parades, and fireworks, the signing of a document: the Declaration of Independence. On this day, the founding fathers of this nation pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to sever the bonds holding this nation to a government accused of unfair taxation and repeated violation of the contracts under which the colonies were established.
I find this an appropriate day on which to contemplate my own, personal sense of independence, and to wonder whether personal independence is still greatly valued in America today.
A teacher I know from an inner-city school recently asked young children in her class what they wanted to be when they grow up. A number of the children didn't even understand the question: Their parents didn't 'do' anything, other than collect "their check" from the government. For these children, for their parents, personal independent accomplishment is meaningless.
Democrats and Republicans are currently attempting to expand Medicare to cover prescription drugs for senior citizens. Before Congress made it illegal under Section 4507 of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, seniors were able to obtain, at their own expense, private medical insurance to cover these drug costs. Even now, no senior in real need has any excuse for not getting drugs, as there are numerous private charitable organizations out there who will give drugs away to anyone with real need. But our most politically active senior citizens seem to be more inclined to shift the burden of their care onto others. I'm not saying I would deny my grandfather the medical care if he needs. I'm saying, he can better afford it than I can. And if he does need anything he can't get on his own, let it be freely given by me, privately, personally, not taken from anyone else through taxes. And if I need medical care, let me be the one to pay for it. I claim no right to it at anyone else's expense.
I heard on the news just the other day that unemployment statistics had hit another high. I also heard, not too long ago, that Congress had extended the time period for which unemployment benefits could be claimed. I've heard both of these news items with growing frequency these past few months. It's almost as if they go hand in hand, a sort of vicious circle. If anything, I'm beginning wonder if these benefits extensions may be hurting our chances of cutting unemployment. I recently heard a comment about a simple, oft-overlooked economic rule: That which government taxes, we get less of, and that which government subsidizes, we get more of. Our government is taxing income and productivity, and subsidizing unemployment and dependency. Quite frankly, I'm starting to get worried.
And that's not all of it. Local and state governments have become increasingly dependent on funds handed out by the federal government. Funds acquired through taxation of the state's own residents. This subjects our cities and states to extensive federal rules and regulations, at least as long as they want to pay for the building of local highways, schools, and libraries. It's a neat way around the 9th and 10th Amendments to our Constitution, which would ordinarily make the funding of a library solely the responsibility of those who use it. But then, the citizens of my community would be in a better position to support our libraries on our own if we were taxed less at the federal level.
My conclusion, sir, is that our Union is in a sad state. I want independence. I thirst for it. I believe it to be the natural human state. But to be a free people, we must be allowed to rise and fall on our own, without a paternalistic government there to catch us. When we make mistakes, we must be able to learn from them on our own. This is what I want. This is what I demand. This is what you are in office to secure for me. You're not there to give me another benefit at someone else's expense. You're there to protect that which is mine by birthright: My liberty. Please remember that.
Sincerely,
(Me)