self-relaince

Remember when? Like a lot of people in my age bracket I frequently receive e-mails recalling days gone by with the title "REMEMBER WHEN". The nostalgic look at the past is good and we can learn from the past and apply it to tomorrow. Self-reliance seems like one of those old fashioned characteristics that we and our parents had. I haven't seen much reference to it lately. Why? Perhaps there isn't much self-reliance any more. Is there a place for self-reliance in an entitlement society? I don't believe there is one. Could self-reliance replace entitlement? I believe it can. But it must be and individual group effort. Is that a conflict of terms? Yes and no. Let's ask ourselves what is self-reliance. From the dictionary: self-re⋅li⋅ance--reliance on oneself or one's own powers, resources, etc. Would everyone embrace the idea of determining there own future? If each of us take control of our futures, indeed the future of our governing body, then we can obtain self-reliance. It must be and individual decision0n to act collectively to obtain this common good. And that, my friend, would reclaim the freedoms we have lost due to and entitlement mentality. We could rely on our own decision about our future whether tomorrow or for the next generation.

Priorities

There seems to be a lack of priorities in Washington these days. Congress and the President are busy hyping their Health Care Plan. Is that where the government's priority should be at this point in time? I hardly think so. The first priority should be the economy. Putting people back to work. We hear much of the Government's stimulus plan, but where are the results? The government reports jobs created or saved, but who can count them? The unemployment rate continues to increase. The government seems to think that the only to solve a problem is to throw money at it. Money, I might add, it doesn't have. When the government creates a job, it is another job on the government payroll. Jobs without a profit incentive are inherently inefficient. The kind of jobs that are needed produce goods and services. Private sector jobs do this, government jobs do not. The new health care plan if passed is to be a private company owned and operated by the government. The government has proven that it cannot operate a business. Just look at the example of the United States Postal Service and Amtrack. The continuous increase in unemployment benefits will continue to fuel unemployment rate to some degree. I assure you that currently there are people being coached on how to receive the maximum amount of benefits with the minimum amount of effort. Lifestyles are being downsized to live on this additional government "benefit" not only for the short term but forever. The government reason for not addressing this problem must be that the problem is either too difficult to solve or that unpopular measures are needed to solve the problem. By concentrating on health care, real problems such as the economy are not addressed. Indeed, where should the priorities be?