In Dependence Day

By Benjamin Mumma
Originally Published: April 2008
http://www.lehighpatriot.com/issues/article.php?id=63

Fireworks, parties, pools, family and friends, a warm summer night, and beer (especially when combined with the fireworks!): all of these combine to represent a holiday that truly expresses America’s greatness. July fourth, Independence Day, is a great holiday. I don’t know too many people who have a problem with it. Who can complain about mixing alcohol and explosives? I’m not going to. But I do have a problem with Independence Day, or more particularly, the hypocrisy that its name is beginning to represent. Can Americans still celebrate Independence Day in good faith? Does the average American still want to be independent? My thesis is no, but I should probably explain where I’m coming from first.

Forget the historical backdrop of July fourth for a minute. What does the word ‘Independence’ mean? Independence is defined as freedom from influence, support, or aid of others. As a college student, I’ve come to understand what it means. While learning is a critical part of college, an equally vital element is learning how to be independent. The freedom of college results in an equal amount of responsibility, but I think we can all agree that this is a good thing. I know sometimes it’s a pain to always be responsible for your own decisions, but think about it: is there anyone you would rather rely on other than yourself? In case you can’t decide, some very brave colonists very considerately made that decision over 200 years ago. That decision maintains its relevance to this day.

On July 4^th, 1776 a large group of America’s founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. America had finally concluded that running its own show would produce far greater results than someone else doing it for them. We decided to rely on ourselves first and foremost, above anyone else. The rest of that story is history, and we remember that with a celebration on the very same day every year. Is the independence of a state any different than the independence of a person? In some respects it is, but in many ways they are one in the same. Colonists first came here seeking religious freedom, and our initial problems with the British occurred when excessive taxes were placed upon us, and trade was restricted. At the time, it wasn’t just the colonies that were dependent on the British. Every single colonist was dependent on the British government. We, understandably, didn’t like that too much.

Now, 232 years later, we are forgetting this vital lesson. Dependence is a term thrown around a lot – dependence on foreign oil, dependence on drugs or alcohol, dependence on cheap foreign imports – you get my point. But the dependency I’m worried about is different, but much more dangerous and insidious. Americans are becoming dependent upon our very own government. How are most American’s planning for retirement? The government takes care of it. How do many American’s hope to get their healthcare? Why, the government should take care of that as well! The list goes on and on. The great irony here is that the politicians absolutely adore having a bunch of whiny babies at home in need of constant attention. In case you missed it, we are the whining babies.

The saddest part of the story though, is that we weren’t always like this. It was only 40 some years ago that John F. Kennedy told all Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Today, his self-proclaimed protégé, Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama, is calling for the government to provide health care for everyone. In fact, he’s calling for the government to intervene in almost every aspect of the economy that you can imagine. This isn’t conservative propaganda – just take a look at his own website, ignore the rhetoric, and ask yourself, “If we implement what he suggests here, will the government be in charge of more, or less?” Overwhelmingly, the answer to that will be more government run programs, funds, and regulatory commissions. John McCain isn’t free of guilt either, since he’d love to have the government be in charge of more aspects of American’s everyday lives as well. However, he does earn some points via his proven record of fighting against pork-barreling. Still, all we get from our leaders are promises of how the government is going to help us. Isn’t that an ironic turn from JFK’s attitude just over 40 years ago? The worst part is, we are gobbling this up. We love it! And why shouldn’t we, right? We’ll get all this cool stuff, and we don’t even have to pay for it!

Well, just like all those free laptops and ipods that you always seem to win on the internet, this is too good to be true as well. The first lesson that I learned in life is that nothing good ever comes free. But it’s true. It applies to those laptops and ipods, and it most certainly applies to all these government programs too. Even worse, the cost of government programs for us isn’t flat. As everyone knows, increasing taxes places a large burden on the economy. So too, as we’ve seen, does a monstrous deficit, rather like the one we have right now. That’s just the flat cost.

The real harm comes in the future. When kids are given everything they ask for by their loving parents, is there an incentive to work hard for something they want? Why work hard? They know with a little bit of whining, or sweet-talking, or another persuasion method, they can get whatever they desire without lifting a finger. We, as Americans, are becoming these spoiled kids, as we are ‘given’ more and more by our government. That is the real problem with the government ‘giving’ us more and more. We will lose our incentive to work. Human beings are rational creatures, and we will work for what we need to be happy, and not much more. So when we give people most of what they need for basically nothing in return, the incentive disappears. With lost incentive comes lost productivity. Look at the fall of all the other great civilizations in history – it seems to be the fate we are destined for.

So here is the hypocrisy I alluded to at the beginning. How can we continue to celebrate Independence Day in good faith, when all we do is ask for more and more from our government? We hear promises from our politicians, and we just give them our votes. When was the last time you ever heard a politician saying ‘no’ to expensive ‘solutions’? America’s celebration of Independence is becoming a celebration of being In Dependence. Foreign oil, foreign goods, and alcohol – sure, we can celebrate those. But our new idol of dependence will be our government – there to solve all of our problems. Uncle Sam has decided it’s time for him to play Daddy Sam. Thank God too, because we’ve got a lot of problems. But seeing what our government has done in the past to fix Immigration, Social Security, and our Education system, makes me feel so much better.

My point, basically, is this: America is the greatest country in the world today because we have had a government that DID NOT solve our problems for us. We had to figure things out for ourselves. Just like a child needs to learn to do things on their own so do the citizens of a nation. We need this to be the attitude of every American. But it’s not, and we are moving further and further away from this ideal. So this Independence Day, before the beer and the fireworks, take a few steps back to ensure that you won’t be forced to be dependent on our government. Write a letter to your local Congressmen and your esteemed Senators, wish them a happy holiday, and tell them politely to stop making a bunch of new programs, and that you can, and would rather, handle these problems by yourself. Maybe even remind him of what JFK said a while back, and tell him that THAT is what you want.