Entitlement Mentality

There is an entitlement mentality infecting the politics of America

There are people who want to comfort themselves with your property. They vote to have taxes raised so they can the government take what is yours have a pleasant day. But that isn't the entitlement I talking about.

There is another , more dangerous entitlement mentality -- the people who think they are entitled to run our lives.

We are Americans -- we live by the code of self-direction. We make the decisions which control our own lives. Within certain limits, we do not expect anyone else to do anything for us. Our society is formed this way. Probably, society is always self-ordering. Society is also self-changing, although the changes usually proceed at a very slow pace.

The politicians who want to control our lives think we need their sense of order imposed on us. I suspect they genuinely think they have a better idea of how to organize our lives than we do. Maybe they do, but we are not willing to be dependent on them.

Those entitled to run our lives feel they are genuinely right to control our lives, even if some of us must be punished so we can become enlightened.

What starts out as a penalty for the wrong kind of health care coverage eventually becomes short prison stays, then permanent penalties like hanging. After all, they are entitled to make our lives better.

Eventually the social restraints falter altogether. They have the right and responsibility to control us: No interference with out betterment can be tolerated. Society requires the entitled leader must be obeyed.

Good luck, comrade.

The Road to Serfdom

OMG! = Obama must go!

The Roman Catholic Church objects to Obamacare's mandate requiring Church employees be covered for abortion and contraception. The church has long held the belief that birth control in general, and abortion in particular, are immoral.

Obama claims he offered a compromise: The compromise would require that church employees be covered for abortion and contraception.

This is no compromise at all. Obama is lying again.

The Church has published its formal objection.

Obama is also violating the First Amendment right of religious freedom. Obama Must Go.

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This issue has unfortunately become a major campaign debate. Unfortunately, because this should not be a partisan fight. This is a battle over our most fundamental freedom: freedom of religion. And it’s also a battle over the Constitution--whether Congress can allow government agencies to legislate. It’s a battle that is going to be fought out on Capitol Hill and in the courts.

This is not a partisan question. This is not the Obama Administration vs. the Church. This is a question of whether the Constitution will be respected and the first liberty protected, or whether the bureaucrats will be allowed to make a decision that will override our religious liberties.

Congress would never mandate religious organizations to violate their faith. But in passing the Affordable Health Care Act, Congress in essence delegated its legislative authority to federal agencies—staffed by unelected political appointees.

We want to do our level best to keep this from becoming a partisan issue, and we want to argue always on the high ground, protecting the Constitution and respecting freedom of conscience. It’s at the heart of liberty. When freedom of conscience is lost, all liberty is gone.

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The Manhattan Declaration is sending a petition to Obama. Click here to sign.

Wasted away in Obamaville

From an email

"The food stamp program, part of the Department of Agriculture, is pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of food stamps ever.

"Meanwhile, the Park Service, asks us to "please do not feed the animals" because the animals will grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves."

Freedom of Conscience, Anyone?

"If our brothers are oppressed, then we are oppressed. If they hunger, we hunger. If their freedom is taken away, our freedom is not secure." -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"You've probably seen the headlines lately—our federal government is mandating that all women receive free contraceptives, sterilizations and drugs that could cause the early abortion of preborn babies.

"And in order to make this happen, our leaders are willing to trample on one of our founding principles—the right to a free conscience, to exercise religious faith in the public square in the way one feels called to do.

"Some people are trying to make this an argument about healthcare, saying medical organizations have recommended that free contraception be made available to all women to prevent disease later in life.

"But pregnancy is not a disease to be "cured," and chemical abortions are not "medicine." And this battle is not really about healthcare, but religious freedom.

"Our government is claiming that forcing all employers to offer these drugs and procedures—regardless of their faith or moral convictions—is nothing new, since 28 states already have similar laws in place. What they're not telling us is that those states generally allow conscientious objectors to opt out in some fashion, whether by noting their religious objections or by becoming self-funded.

"The federal mandate in question offers no such exceptions, but rather makes insurers offer the coverage to women for "free"—meaning the cost will be borne by everybody else in the insurance pool, regardless of any moral concerns they may have. It makes everyone guilty by association, and raises insurance prices in the process.

"In the meantime, faith-based organizations aren't standing idly by to watch the government take away their Creator-endowed rights: Protestants, Catholics, universities, hospitals, faith-based and secular employers, attorneys general and concerned individuals alike are signing petitions and filing lawsuits against the mandate.

"Please join me in praying for these efforts, as well as wisdom and humility for all our elected leaders, during this critical time."

Text in blue by Focus on the Family.

Get Your "small measure of an American dream"

Obama changed tack. Now he is pretending to champion the American Dream. Much of what he says sounds familiar. But Obama's vision of the American Dream is limited, regulated, metered out --- from Big Government to you.

“If you’re willing to put in the work, the idea is that you should be able to raise a family and own a home; not go bankrupt because you got sick, because you’ve got some health insurance that helps you deal with those difficult times; that you can send your kids to college; that you can put some money away for retirement… That’s all most people want. Folks don’t have unrealistic ambitions. They do believe that if they work hard they should be able to achieve that small measure of an American Dream.” --- BHO

This is what happens when statist thinkers take over the country. The ultimate goal becomes creating the highest level of personal security and the lowest level of personal risk -- all guaranteed by our government. And what is the result? The shrinking of the American dream.

Instead of a vibrant marketplace for ideas in which the sky is the limit, we instead offer people a safe, protected place where no one will tell them they have failed, financial risk is minimized and it's always someone else's fault. The dream becomes a safe, no-risk, government-insured illusion.

The shrinking of the American dream is the precise sentiment of our Marxist In Chief. At a stop in Iowa, Obama said that Americans "don't have unrealistic expectations" but believe "if they work hard they should be able to achieve that small measure of an American Dream.”

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Steve Elliot says,

The other day, I was visiting my favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch when I struck up a conversation with my server -- a hard working, first-generation legal immigrant. I asked him what "Fair Share" of taxes meant. To my pleasant surprise, he proceeded to express his frustration with those who "want to take from everybody else and think something is owed to him." He then said he wants to own a restaurant some day and live out the American dream.

He didn't mention anything about universal healthcare or government-paid birth control or welfare. He wants to some day own a restaurant and, yes, perhaps own a big house and drive an expensive car. In short, he wants the American dream.

Perhaps like many first-generation immigrants, that dream will be more fully realized in his children and grandchildren who build on his years of sacrifice. Like Luther Powell, a Jamaican immigrant of no personal means who came to New York City, worked hard and supported his family in total anonymity. His son, Colin, became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and one of the most respected military leaders of our time.

So what will it be, America? A "small measure" of a government-shaped illusion or a real, risky shot at the American dream? We will decide in November.

Steve Elliott
Grassfire Nation

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Stimulating side note.

Last Friday marked the third anniversary of the 'stimulus' being signed into law. Obama promised the American people that that trillion-dollar package would keep unemployment under 8 percent.

We're in the 36th month for which unemployment has exceeded that figure. The Stimulus money went somewhere, but it did not go to the good of the nation. Obama is a liar at least, an incompetent at best, and a criminal we best live without.