Protect Us from Ourselves, Please!

image I usually enjoy reading the biting sarcasm usually found on The Onion website, taking most articles with a grain of salt, but today my son’s facebook post drew attention to a classic article from back in 2003 that would be much funnier if it were not so true.

The article began:

“Alarmed by the unhealthy choices they make every day, more and more Americans are calling on the government to enact legislation that will protect them from their own behavior.”

Hey, this isn’t satire.  This is reality! What about seatbelt and motorcycle helmet laws?  Why not protect me from eating that juicy hamburger?

The final paragraph tells it all, highlighting the eternal conflict between personal responsibility and guaranteed salvation:

"The fact is, personal responsibility doesn’t work," Nathansen (Lucifer) said. "Take a good look at the way others around you are living, and I’m sure you’ll agree. It’s time for the American people to demand that someone force them to do something about it."

(My parenthetical comment included.)

Pennies and $Billions

This YouTube video has apparently existed for over a year and has been viewed over 1.2 million times, but I saw it for the first time yesterday.  It gives an excellent visual perspective of how much (or little) $100 million in proposed budget cuts really is when compared to the federal budget as a whole.

Now, please tell me once again, who is going to pay for all the pennies on the right of the blue line?

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John Adams: Constitution and Virtue

"Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure, than they have it now, they may change their Rulers and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty."

John Adams, Second President of the United States.

Woodrow Wilson: Source of Liberty

Woodrow Wilson“Liberty has never come from government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of government power, not the increase of it.”

Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, from a speech in New York City, September 9, 1912