July 4: When Will America Publish a Declaration of Dependence?
Next week is July 4.
Are we celebrating our independence from Great Britain, or are we celebrating, in general, our independence?
If it’s the latter, then we really have no right to celebrate July 4.
Too many of our citizens, rich or poor, depend entirely too much on the federal government. Forget all that talk about secessionist movements or red states divorcing blue states. Even conservative Mississippi depends too much on the federal government for tax revenue and will never give that money up.
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In 2020 and 2021, some people vaccinated themselves against COVID-19, but they only did so by government coercion. Other people during that time lost their businesses and livelihoods due to government mandates.
The nation’s poor no longer must work harder to achieve upward mobility, not when the government robs members of that group of self-initiative and provides for most of their needs.
In 2014, the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation observed the 50th anniversary of former president Lyndon Baines Johnson’s War on Poverty. At that time, U.S. taxpayers had spent more than $22 trillion on anti-poverty programs. Yet, according to the most recent census numbers, nearly 12 percent of Americans still live in poverty.
“This lack of progress in building self-sufficiency is due in major part to the welfare system itself. Welfare wages war on social capital, breaking down the habits and norms that lead to self-reliance, especially those of marriage and work,” according to Heritage.
“It thereby generates a pattern of increasing intergenerational dependence. The welfare state is self-perpetuating. By undermining productive social norms, welfare creates a need for even greater assistance in the future.”
Some business owners in the United States can no longer compete on a level playing field. That’s due to crony capitalism — also known as the government picking winners and losers in the business world.
“Capitalism and our free enterprise system are concerned with individuals and businesses having the opportunity to compete on their own merits to achieve economic success and realize their own personal American dreams,” Heritage reported in 2021.
“By contrast, cronyism places favoritism ahead of merit, giving special treatment to some individuals and businesses over others to give them an advantage over their competitors. Simply put, cronyism is the antithesis of capitalism and free enterprise.”
Amazon has squeezed more than $5.1 billion in economic subsidies from various localities and states. The company obtained the largest known economic development subsidy award in history. Analysts call it a “massive transfer of wealth from taxpayers to Amazon shareholders.”
General Motors (GM), meanwhile, accepts huge amounts of taxpayer money and, to put it mildly, has a leg up on the competition. As if strings are attached, GM now pimps Electric Vehicles (EVs), the federal government’s preferred method of transportation.
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GM also doesn’t mind asking taxpayers to help keep their company afloat. It’s a constitutional right, one GM spokesman said 10 years ago after the company accepted $50 billion in federal bailout money. The company actively lobbies state governments for taxpayer dollars.
Are we independent on July 4?
Not when we have an increasing number of IRS agents. Not when IRS agents wield guns and could potentially access one or more taxpayers’ personal information and use it to harm people.
Speaking of the IRS, on April 15, grateful taxpayers collect refunds from that agency — even though that’s money they already earned.
You may think we’re independent from the government and have equal opportunity to compete.
But for every passing July 4, more and more of us have reason to differ.
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