Thought of day....

Oakeshott tells us something else is also at work, namely that some "prefer the promise of a provided abundance to the opportunity of choice and activity on their own account.," which is to say, some will shrug at liberty losses as they cheer pledges of income redistribution and extension of the welfare state.

This describes the 'something-for-nothing' crowd perfectly. This is the Democrats central plank in their economic life, willing to trade liberty for some economic good today. Take from one and distribute it to another. Over time, this distribution becomes more-and-more arbitrary. Take the Ponzi scheme of Social Security where funds are taken from working people and distributed to the wealthiest class of people on the planet. Whereas, the program began altruistically to assist destitute elderly during the depression, it has, however, magically transformed and it now is a massive unearned transfer of wealth. I argue that this transfer of wealth is arbitrary and wholly unfair.

Additionally, these transfers have an insidious side-effect. People come to believe that they deserve these transfers, that others owe them a life and a living and that they can get an intermediary, the American government, to seize others assets to gain these economic favors. So what happened to the American dream of hard work, self reliance and personal responsibility? These core values of Americanism are now stone cold dead and the rotting corpse of greatness is now the weaselly social welfare state. It is completely embarrassing when facing socialist Europeans that giggle and state that the US is now more socialist then their former states. They actually express that they wish that the nation gain back its footing and be a beacon of liberty in a slippery world. It hurts.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20101021/OPINION03/10210344/1008/OPINION01/Facts-prove-troublesome-for-Obama#ixzz133fblvsS