by I thought I’d use my first post to illustrate what you’ll most likely be hearing from me going forward. In his post on July 24th, 2007 (What Kind of Republican Are You), Marc gives us a link to a site that asks us a series of questions that are designed to illustrate the type of people we are.
Okay, so I did – and here’s the results:
My Conservative Identity:
You are an Anti-government Gunslinger, also known as a libertarian conservative. You believe in smaller government, states’ rights, gun rights, and that, as Reagan once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”
Take the quiz at www.FightLiberals.com
Man, does THAT ever hit the nail on the head. If there’s one thing that could be said about me, it’s that I can not stand the thought of a big government system. Each new layer on our ever increasing national government fills me with dread. To reference a famous quote: I want three things from my government – Protect my shores, deliver my mail, and leave me the hell alone.
The bottom line is that if you’re relying on the government to be there for you, you’re going to be alone on an island looking for a ship that had long since run aground.
Remember Katrina? Who can forget the site of all those people outside of the stadium chanting, “we need help, we need help.” The memory of it still churns my stomach with anger – but not against those that you may think. I don’t blame the government for this failure, I blame the people staying there.
Yes, you read that write – I blame the people. Ask yourself if you would have stayed there hoping that some other entity would show up and make it better for you, or would you have (like I KNOW that I would have) done what you could to get yourself and your family out of there (this of course assumes that I would have found myself in the position to begin with).
This country was founded upon an independent mindset, the need to be ourselves, and an overriding desire to be free. Sadly, more and more people are willing to hand over their power to a governmental entity with a misguided promise that they will be taken care of.
Each time another person does this, one more link is added to the chain that will bind us all.
Dan, you’re absolutely right: the idea that the government – any government – is supposed to “take care” of its citizens is both misguided and foolish.
Misguided because it assumes that it is a good idea for individuals to cede their personal responsibilities to the abstraction of “the people’s will” that is the government.
Foolish because it assumes that the government will do a better job of meeting one’s needs than oneself. While this may work out well for some – mostly the lazy and/or incompetent – for most people and certainly for the best and brightest among us such a decision is akin to volunteering for a slow death by 1000 cuts instead of a life of freedom.