In Dependence Day

On the 4^th, I was watching a nice fireworks display, and the gloomy thought came to mind that the 4^th of July may soon become the celebration of a nation and a freedom that no long exists.

Then yesterday morning I came across an excellent op-ed in which Bill Frezza captures the current state of the United States all too well, saying the 4^th would now be better a day of atonement rather than a day of celebration.

This particularly resonated with me (i.e. I roared my agreement loud enough to be heard in several counties when I read it):

Little by little, the home of the brave and the land of the free has become a nation of rent-seeking dependents clamoring for their share of state largess. Even before the latest entitlement blowout called Obamacare, we crossed the line where more than half of Americans receive some kind of assistance from the government every month, paid for by the fewer than half that still pay income taxes. As we move into the future and the number of dependents grows while the taxpayer pool shrinks, we call the result social justice rather than its old name: theft.

And such a country is indeed more in dependence than independent.  I do not call that “freedom.”

Sorry to rain on your 4^th of July week, but we need to wake up to what is happening to America.