Lately we have had a lot of political debate. Hillary, Obama, McCain, Ron Paul and so on. I think my biggest problem is that it seems that we are all sitting around waiting on our government to do for us what we are unwilling to do for ourselves; but to quote John F. Kennedy, “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” And this from a democrat, no less. However, it would benefit us greatly to live by this famous command. America is still the greatest country; we still offer endless opportunity for better life. People across the oceans and borders are still trying to improve their life’s quality by coming here. Still, I am constantly burdened by the bellyaching of my fellow countrymen.
We, as of today, are not technically in a recession and yet people talk as though it is the second Great Depression. I had a lady tell me that her daughter thinks it is so bad here that she plans on moving to Mexico. Mexico! I think the fact that we have 13 million people crossing the border to come HERE illegally (and work for less than minimum wage) should make it apparent that moving to Mexico to improve your financial situation is plain idiotic. In the next sentence she made the point that “we could buy smaller, more economical cars to help with rising gas prices, but who wants to do that?” Then please tell me why you are complaining. Oh, becasue it is easier just to blame George Bush. ultimately what you are telling me is that you don’t want to change your lifestyle? Well, I guess the folks at Exxon don’t want to change theirs either, or that of their employees. So when crude prices rise then, naturally, so does your gas bill. If you cannot make the sacrifice then why would you expect the corporations to do it for you?
Universal healthcare is the next big complaint. It is so terrible that the average person cannot afford healthcare so you tell me that my tax dollars should go to take care of those unfortunate people. Are Americans healthy? Not usually. Is it the lack of healthcare coverage? I happen to think not. Americans are FAT! Americans eat cheap, low quality food stripped of nutrients. We spend time hurried and stressed and then only break to spend hours with our beloved electronic devices. Is it any wonder we are ill? And instead of considering a change of lifestyle, we run to the latest prescription drug that costs money we don’t have. I resent the fact that the only proposed solution to this healthcare issue is taking money from MY paycheck to pay for healthcare costs that are the result of others not taking responsibility for their own health. Again, if you’re not going to make the sacrifice, why should I?
Abortion, the environment, social programs, etc, etc. All of these issues really go back to one thing; personal responsibility. When you have a country that embraces convenience before health, temporal pleasure over morality, personal victimization over ethics and hard work then you have…well, exactly what we have now. As a nation we have to stop expecting help from the government or anyone else. We have to take total responsibility for every aspect of our own lives and go out of our way to help our fellow man (and I don’t mean with government funded programs. I mean WE have to help). We have to acknowledge and accept responsibility for our own choices. And we MUST, we MUST, realize how tremendously blessed and truly rich we actually are. So please ask yourself what YOU can do for your country. At the very least, ask what you can do for yourself.
