Responsibility Of The American Citizen

By Semperpapa

It is quite common within a society that the responsibility of its citizens takes on a contorted meaning, or more likely understanding, on the part of its citizenry.
According to the Declaration of Independence, our Founding Fathers considered an unalienable right "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
These were rights, among others, that the Founders considered to be gifts given to mankind by their Creator and not by a supreme government.
At the same time, the responsibility for seeking such rights was left to the very citizens of the new struggling republic. Sitting back and being handed our rights was not the intent of the Founders, because the moment we surrender our right to pursue happiness, the moment we relinquish the involvement in safeguarding our Life and Liberty, we in effect give up our rights as free people.

In the United States, the Founders recognized the danger of surrendering to the whims of a central government, after all the very inspiration of the American Revolution had been the rejection of a despotic system represented by the British monarchy.
King George and his ruling was not as physically oppressive, in the sense of indiscriminate imprisonments, massacres or torturing, as it was an economic oppression. As colonies, the American subject states were to subsidize the royal coffers in the form of taxes, practically forced to forgo their pursuit of happiness for the benefit of a corrupted royal society thousands of miles across the ocean.
We have all heard that the spirit of the Revolution was "Taxation without representation", which basically meant that the colonists wanted a voice in the type and amounts of taxes the King was imposing.

The political experiment that America became was really based on the ability of the citizens to check the power of the government, to have a say in the level of control and the level of taxation the central government had over the people.
But with the ability of citizens to have a say in the level of intrusion from the government, came the necessity of the citizen to accept its responsibility in the process.
Hard work and integrity; individualism and strong sense of community; compassion and patriotism. But, most of all, a driving need for self reliance.

And that is where our society has deteriorated into a social nightmare closely resembling the very European social nightmare we fought a Revolution against.

We have become a society where we expect the government to take care of us from cradle to grave. For some of us, the answer to every desire is the heavy hand of a government that will give us the means for a comfortable life without us having to participate into it.
May it be because of laziness or because of a liberal progressive fostered sense of entitlement, so many Americans today are convinced that the subsidies they receive form the government are due to them, that they are entitled to.
Universal health care is not a constitutional right, and yet so many Americans today are convinced that the government owes us medical care coverage. The role of our government in the medical coverage of its citizens is to maintain a national economic status that encourages and facilitates the individual to pursue its own medical coverage. When the private sector is inspired to develop and individual entrepreneurship is fostered, the ability of the individual to work and have medical coverage is greatly enhanced.
Also role of the government is to lend a helping hand to those Americans who fall into hard times and are in need of a way to get themselves back to self reliance.

What we are witnessing now is a dangerous reversal of conduct. We currently are looking at the government to give us "free healthcare", whatever that means.
In the first place, nothing is free. Anything provided by the government for "free" has a price tag. We can pay for it by allowing the government to increase our taxes or by the government printing more currency, or borrowing money. Or a combination of all three.
In the first instance, politicians are always happy to increase taxes, because by doing so they are able to line their own pockets and setting themselves up for a nice, luxurious living (of course always crying they are doing so for the good of us, the little people).
In the second instance, printing currency indiscriminately creates massive and destructive inflation.
In the third case, we borrow money and incur a debt that is so large that it compromises our National security.
Right now in America, the Obama regime, and not just Obama, have utilized all three methods resulting in an economic condition that is truly horrible. To aggravate the issue, the current regime has embarked on a anti small business campaign that I do not believe has any precedent in American history.

Similarly, the new fad in America is the right to a college education. Nowhere in the Constitution says that the American citizen has the right to a college education. Looking at the demonstrations from the radicalized student groups and the Occupy misfits, it is really mind boggling to even being forced to defend the position that the community, the taxpayers, are in any way responsible for the repayment of student loans, or to foot the bill for the education of anyone.
If one wants to attend college, that is their right. But the demand for me to pay for that choice is a blatant and illogical infringement upon my rights.
I find it unacceptable that my tax money needs to be raised because some individual decides to enroll in Chicano Studies or Conflict Resolution graduate school. Even if the course of study is Medicine or Engineering or Law, the burden of that cost should be left to the individual attending the school. If that individual cannot afford the school and the prospect for financial return for the repayment of a student loan is not there, that the individual must find alternative ways to fulfill their options. But certainly NOT on my dime.

The role of a government, as intended by the Founding Fathers, is to safeguard the ability of its citizens to achieve individual goals, in response to each citizen's ability to pursue such goals.
Just because I need and want a new car, it does not mean that I can actually look at the government to provide me with one.
The next time that some liberal tells you that the proverbial "rich" must pay more of his earned income to subsidize the habits of those who spend their lives with their hands extended, palms up, just tell them that you will be more than happy to take some of their possessions and re-distribute them to those who have less then them. And see what their reaction is.

The responsibility of the American citizen is to conduct his/her life in the most ethical and constructive possible way. Such responsibility also includes the dedication to the safeguard of the Constitution as the guiding set of rules necessary for the survival of our unusual political experiment.
In 1776, safeguarding the idea of America and rejection of despotic control, brought an armed Revolution that gave life to the best country that ever graces this planet of ours.
In 2012, specifically November, the American people have the chance to continue the revolution they started in 2010 by rejecting the anti-American, anti-Constitutional ways of a regime bent on dividing the American people for the purpose of conquering us.
Let us not fail in such national mandate. It's up to us. Our responsibility as American citizens.

Just my thoughts!