Personal Independence

                   The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is:  In order to be truly free, individuals must be independent of all other people, organizations, and governments.  People who have an "entitlement mentality" and expect others to take care of them cannot consider themselves to be personally independent.  In fact, people who are dependent on handouts from the government are slaves of the government rather than free men and women.

                    The Heritage Foundation's report entitled "The 2012 Index of Dependence on Government," written by William Beach and Patrick Tyrrell and dated February 8, 2012, begins:  "The great and calamitous fiscal trends of our time - dependence on government by an increasing portion of the American population, and soaring debt that threatens the financial integrity of the economy - worsened yet again in 2010 and 2011.  The United States has long reached the point at which it must reverse the direction of both trends or face economic and social collapse.  Yet policymakers made little progress on either front since the 2010 Index of Dependence on Government was published.  Today, more people than ever before - 67.3 million Americans, from college students to retirees to welfare beneficiaries - depend on the federal government for housing, food, income, student aid, or other assistance once considered to be the responsibility of individuals, families, neighborhoods, churches, and other civil society institutions.  The United States reached another milestone in 2010:  For the first time in history, half the population pays no federal income taxes.  Related to these disturbing trends, publicly held debt continued its amazing ascent without any plan by the government to pay it back.  As if those circumstances were not dire enough, the country is about to witness the largest generational retirement in world history by a population that will depend on currently bankrupted pension and health programs"

                    One of the biggest problems with entering a government entitlement program is the difficulty involved in extracting yourself from it.  The longer a person receives something "for free" - at no personal effort or cost - the more willing that person is to believe they are "entitled" to that benefit.  The older I get, the more I understand and appreciate why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints expects/requires the recipients of its welfare program to do something for what they are getting - except of course those people who are truly incapable of doing anything.  A Bishop may require a welfare recipient to shovel the snow from the walkways around the chapel or water the lawn or help in the bi-weekly cleaning of the meetinghouse.  He may require the recipient to work in the Bishops Storehouse helping other needy people.  There are numerous ways that people can do their part in society and "pay" for the assistance they receive.  By "working" for what they get, welfare recipients are more able to maintain their dignity and their ability to help themselves.  There is no shame in needing help, but there is shame in getting sucked into believing that you can't help yourself.

                    In an excellent article entitled "TheEffects of Dependence Programs:  More Harmthan Help," Donlyn Tumbull explains:  "Whoever controls your money and your choices controls you.  And when you lose that ability, you begin to stop taking responsibility for your life.  Dependency programs breed more dependency and can create the same psychological effects as people involved in abusive or other severely difficult situations.

                    "Many people assume if you are in a bad situation you will do anything to escape.  However, the truth is, `If you feel like you aren't in control of your destiny, you will give up and accept whatever situation you are in'.  It's the very definition of a psychological effect proven in the 1960's by scientist Martin Seligman, called `learned helplessness'. 

                    "When people begin to believe they can't help themselves they eventually stop trying.

                    "The Administration is allowing people to become fully dependent on them for their basic needs like food and access to health services, even encouraging it.  The more they rely on the Government, the more Government has control of their lives and the less people feel they are capable of escaping their situation.  Without responsibility and choices, they give up."

                    Independence improves our self-esteem and our capabilities.  Agency or the opportunity to choose is one of the greatest gifts that God has given to His children.  He bestowed it upon us in our pre-earth life.  Agency is so important that there was a war fought in heaven because Satan wanted to take away our agency.  Those spirits who followed Satan were cast out of heaven and lost the opportunity to gain physical bodies.  How do we maintain control of our lives and our ability to make choices?

                    "And there was war in heaven:  Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

                    "And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

                    "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:  he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" (Revelation 12:7).

                    The government "entitlement" programs are a Progressive plan to take away our ability to choose and and thus to control our own lives.  Touted as a means of "saving" us, they actually enslave us.  Government agents who seek to take away our agency are no better than Satan who continually tries to entice us to accept bondage. 

Lehi, an ancient American prophet, taught, "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man.  And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life , through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself" (Book of Mormon - Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 2 Nephi 2:27).

We must be free and independent in order to be happy and live effective lives; otherwise, we are miserable like the devil.  This site  has an article entitled "Personal Power and Control Can Make You Happier and Healthier."  The article states, "Control is the real and perceived personal power we each possess over our own life and the events in it.  It is our ability to make choices and choose our own destiny.  Related to this real or perceived ability are our feelings of competence and personal power.  We are happier and more effective when we have the power to choose.  The loss of personal responsibility for our lives causes us to be less happy and healthy.  It is only natural that when this power to make choices is taken away, we resist and engage in `reactance.'  We like to at least believe we have the ability to control our lives."

This article describes a test about "whether increasing control and power in the elderly causes them to be happier and healthier."  The testers separated out an experimental group of residents in a "one of the finest nursing homes in Connecticut" and gave these residents more personal responsibility and choice in their care.  They believed that these residents would "demonstrate improvements in mental abilities, activity level, and satisfaction with life."  The residents on two floors were randomly selected to be part of the test.  One floor would have more choice in how their rooms were arranged and be "responsible for voicing their complaints, telling what they liked and what they wanted changed."  They were also "offered a plant of their choice" to care for and a choice of whether or not to watch a movie and when.  The comparison group was basically told that their choices would be made for them because it was the nursing home's "responsibility to make the home a place where they could be proud of and happy in.  They were given a plant that would be cared for by the nurses and told when they could see the movie.  The "test" lasted for three weeks.

"The results [were] striking.  The fourth-floor residents reported they felt happier and more active than those in the comparison group.  Even greater differences were seen in the nurses' ratings.  It was determined the experimental group's condition improved markedly over the three weeks of the study, while the comparison group in general declined.  Furthermore, significantly more residents from the experimental group attended the movie and participated in the game."

The importance of choice over events in our lives is present from the cradle to the grave as is our accountability for our choices.  Toddlers are most happy when they feel that they have a choice in their clothing, in the food they eat, in the books they "read."  When teenagers sense they are being "forced" to do anything, they quickly indicate their refusal.  As shown in the above referenced test, the aged are also happier when they feel they have control over the events in their lives. 

I do not appreciate or enjoy having someone tell me what I can do or where I can go.  When my husband is over-zealous in trying to control me, I remind him that "I am free, white and 21" and I don't need anyone controlling me!   I am a very independent woman, and I want to make my own decisions.  I want to maintain as much freedom and independence as possible; therefore, I recognize the need to retire Barack Obama before he and his minions enslave all Americans.  We must repeal Obamacare and shrink the entitlement programs to the point where they are strictly for those Americans who cannot help themselves.  We must make the necessary changes in our tax codes so that every working American pays taxes.  Our nation cannot survive much longer as a free nation if individuals continue to sell themselves into bondage to the federal government. 

                    For other articles containing my feelings about entitlement programs, click here  or here. 


Updated March 3, 2012:  Here is a good video about how our government wants to increase the number of citizens who depend on government for services. 

Farms and Plantations

Do entitlement and affirmative action programs keep Blacks "on the plantation," Hispanics "down on the farm," and other minorities under the control of Democrats? Do these liberal/progressive programs truly help minorities or are they in place simply to keep minorities voting for Democrats?

A blogger named Kevin DuJan asked the question, "What is the difference between slaves on plantations and blacks who blindly vote for Democrats?" He then answered his own question by listing the following areas where there are no differences: The slave owner (and Democrats) provides free "housing," "food," "healthcare," and "A menial education sufficient to the task he requires the slave to perform." In return, the slave owner (and Democrats) requires "unquestioning loyalty."

DuJan continued his article by claiming that Democrats keep other voting blocs under their control by similar questionable tactics: He stated that Democrats 1) tell gays that "Republicans are evil and want to kill us," 2) make policies making Spanish our unofficial second language so "Hispanics never learn English and don't progress as much in society," 3) keep women "in line" "through cultural wedges like abortion" by using scare tactics about the evil Republicans.

I would add that Democrats also keep Hispanics in line by pushing laws and policies aimed at giving illegal Hispanics the right to vote. The 2010 census showed Hispanics and Latinos to be 16.3 percent of the U.S. population. Hispanics and Latinos are expected to be 39 percent of our population in 2050.

A large voting bloc of Alaska Natives secured re-election for liberal Senator Lisa Murkowski in 2010 because they were scared they would lose some of their benefits if Tea Party favorite Joe Miller became our Senator. I'm sure that some of these voters were upset when Senator Murkowski admitted in a recent interview that benefits must be cut in order to bring fiscal security to our nation.

There are numerous people who claim that blacks are being kept on a modern-day plantation. U.S. Representative Allen West (R-FL) was interviewed on the O'Reilly Factor by guest host Laura Ingram on August 18, 2011. During the interview Congressman West claimed that liberal Whites are the plantation overseers of the 21st century. He said that black leaders such as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Maxine Waters, and Barbara Lee follow instructions from liberal Whites who tell them "…pacify the black communities, keep the black communities firmly behind us." Rep. West stated that the "black leaders" are "absent" regarding the "devastation in the black communities" and the "flash mobs" against Whites.

The next evening on the O'Reilly Factor, Representative Charles Rangel (D/NY) agreed with West's claim that liberal policies have failed Blacks on the Democrat plantation. Guest host, Laura Ingram, attempted to interview Rangel, but he avoided every question put to him. She was finally able to pin him down when she asked, "Has liberalism - has Obama - worked for inner cities?", and he answered "no."

I believe that the "Great Society" programs instituted under the Lyndon Johnson Administration are the worst things that could happen to Blacks and other minorities. Under the direction of LBJ the national welfare programs were expanded with policies that encouraged people to not marry and to have more children than they could afford - all on money from the government. The result of those policies is that we had third and fourth generations of welfare families in America.

President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act in 1996 that restructured the welfare program and instituted work requirements to encourage employment among the poor. The new requirements forced thousands, if not millions, off the welfare rolls and out of the cycle of poverty.

There are many ways that Democrats keep minorities firmly behind them. Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities would all benefit from good education, and reforms in the education system would make big differences in the lives of all students. Changes are needed in the education system such as education vouchers where students could choose which school to attend and policies that would reward good teachers and get rid of bad teachers. Democrats, with their teachers unions firmly behind them, oppose education reform. Just as slave owners wanted to keep their slaves illiterate and unable to read, liberals/progressives do not want minorities to become educated. They know that educated citizens can provide for their own needs and would not need the entitlement programs. They also know that educated citizens are much harder to fool by shady practices.

I believe that Democrats with their liberal/progressive ideas, entitlement programs, and other handouts keep Blacks "on the plantation," Hispanics "on the farm," and other minorities firmly behind them in order to win elections.

Entitlement

This is Freedom Friday. Are you wearing blue today? I've been thinking a lot lately about entitlement and have come to the following conclusion: entitlement mentality encourages dependence on others and thus diminishes freedom and initiative. To be truly free, one must stand independent and have the full opportunity to exercise agency.

I believe that our personal freedom is defined by the degree to which we are dependent of others. I also believe that government entitlement programs are enslaving Americans. When one relies on someone else to provide one's wants and needs, one loses the ability and willingness to do for one's self.

I read an interesting book a couple of years ago that was very interesting to me. One chapter in the book still haunts me and definitely affects many of my decisions. The book is entitled The Millionaire Next Door. It was written by Thomas J. Stanley, PhD and William D. Danko, PhD. The chapter that I remember best was about the ways that well-meaning parents use "entitlement programs" with their children. The authors used many different examples to demonstrate their theory that parents can cause their children to become less productive. I don't have the book so I can't use any of their actual examples, but I will try to provide one from memory.

A couple had two daughters. One of the daughters did well in school and carved out for herself a well-paying career. She became a very successful businesswoman. The other daughter married and had several children. The husband was unable to provide the level of living that this couple desired or that her parents thought they should have. Her parents "felt sorry" for them and decided to "help" them by giving them money to meet their "needs." The other sister didn't "need" any help so they didn't give any to her. In spite of help from the parents, the gap between the two sisters continued to grow. The "have" sister continued to build her wealth while the "have not" sister grew more and more needy and dependent on the parents.

The authors also gave many examples of how parents who distributed money evenly among their children also enslaved their children. For example, the parents decided to "spend down their wealth" by giving each of their children $10,000 every year. After a year or more of receiving this extra money, the children began to add this amount to their budgets and to plan on receiving the money. This raised their standard of living beyond what they could actually afford. This dependence on money from the parents enslaved the children.

Another problem arose from the parents distributing their wealth: Some parents thought they should have some control over the financial decisions made by their children simply because they were providing money to them.

Through reading this book, I discovered that there is a very fine line between giving children assistance so they can become stronger and more capable and enslaving their children. I am still working on the answer to this question: How can responsible parents help their children without also hurting them?

This brings us back to government entitlement programs. How can the government help their truly needy citizens without enslaving millions of people? How many millions of people failed to save for retirement simply because they thought the government was saving for them through the Social Security program? How many people live from paycheck to paycheck instead of developing an emergency fund because they plan to use unemployment insurance to meet financial needs in case they lose their jobs? How many millions of people want the government to provide health insurance for them so they don't have to spend their own money buying insurance?

I remember being shocked at a news item that came out in the media during the Katrina disaster. Many of the residents of New Orleans stayed in the city because they were waiting for their government checks to arrive in the mail in order to have enough money to leave town. They could have lost their lives because they were so dependent on someone else!  An "entitlement mentality" leads to dependence on others and enslavement. This condition makes it easier to just go along with the program rather than to fight the establishment.

We might be helped by remembering the following statement that is attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: "That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved." Government handouts kill the initiative to work in order to provide for one's needs; dependence on others also kills the desire to be independent.

Socialist programs turn productive citizens into lazy slobs: The people who are willing to work aren't motivated to work just to give their money to other people, and the people who won't work realize that they aren't required to work in order to have their needs met. This fact alone means that everyone becomes poor simply because no one is working.

Those who expect the government to take care of them should understand that the government doesn't have any money except what it collects from its citizens in taxes. If no one is working, there are no taxes being collected. Thus the government doesn't have any money to give away. Our nation will be in really big trouble when the government doesn't have any money to pay the $12 trillion national debt.

We can do our part to help the nation by being independent and having our own financial freedom. That should be the personal goal of every American. Independence means learning to work hard, living conservatively, and being self-reliant. This means living within one's means, avoiding debt, and establishing our own emergency fund. On this Freedom Friday, I encourage all of you to discover if you have an "entitlement mentality." If you do, you must understand that this type of thinking will drag you down rather than raise you up. Please, please, please - choose to be independent!