Dec

This is what America is all about…

Rarely does a typed message generate within me the kind of gusto for God and country that Scott Ott’s recent response piece to a San Francisco editor has. This article largely sums up not only the slippery slope that our country is sliding down but, the everyday heros that pick eachother up and work to preserve the way America was meant to be. Here are some of my favorite portions, please read the whole article and be prepared to feel inspired. (first linked in the Gop3.com Rapid Links before this post)

In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, journalists sought someone to blame. They, predictably, found President George Bush was the best scapegoat. But in lashing out, yet again, at their favorite source of all discontent, they missed a bigger target. If anyone â€œout thereâ€ is to be blamed, it is the large, remote, centralized federal government which has become a surrogate father to so many millions of Americans.

Over the decades, we have ceded power, authority and responsibility to the federal government far beyond anything envisioned or desired by our founders. As a result, instead relying on our own intelligence, resources and ability to work with others in our communities to solve problems, we have turned to Washington D.C..

This is not a matter of â€˜blaming the victimâ€™, because the victim has become so immersed in this twisted view of human life that he cannot see what has happened. The federal governmentâ€™s dehumanizing effect has torn up neighborhoods, torn apart families and turned brave, capable people into compliant recipients of redistributed wealth.

The problem is that the morsels of that wealth never provide enough to do anything other than keep folks in a perpetual state of dependence upon the State. Even if those morsels became chunks big enough to choke a horse, the dependency would remain. The federal government has become not only the safety net, it is everything from the crib blanket to the casket lining.

…

Journalists, by habit, prefer stories they can receive from the tip of a spoon held by an â€œexpertâ€ or official. They, too, have turned to big government and have become dependent upon her for their sustenance. What most Americans know of the situation in the hurricane zone is only what TV or other news sources tell them. Most of that information comes from â€œauthoritiesâ€ in the government. The reporters have told us that the real story is all about the governmentâ€™s response. They have largely ignored the responsible activities of thousands of unseen hands restoring towns, parks, homes and lives.

Success stories are buried. Tragedy is blared from the housetops. Itâ€™s a self-reinforcing cycle that further deepens dependence upon the government, and further strips the dignity of the person.
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When my own community was hit by flooding some years ago, people stepped off their porches, shouldered sandbags, delivered meals, took in the homeless, wielded shovels against the muck, and generally helped each other in the task of restoration. As awful as that flood was, I will always remember it fondly, not for the harm it did to us and to our property, but for the good it did in us and in our community.

Our state-run schools and spoon-fed media have conditioned us to look to government. Theyâ€™ve also trained us to take offense at any expression of love that doesnâ€™t result in government intervention and redistribution of taxpayer dollars. â€˜Compassionâ€™ has been redefined as â€˜entitlementâ€™ and thus stripped of its power and utility.

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This decentralized movement of men and women accomplishes most of the great work of charity, compassion and community building. Their individual efforts are a drop in the bucket compared to the ocean of government largess, but in the aggregate and ultimate their service far exceeds anything that government can deliver.
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In fact, the vast majority of Americans behave as if the federal government did not exist in their day-to-day lives. This underground movement is entirely healthy and necessary for the maintenance of our Republic and for our pursuit of happiness.

We donâ€™t have time to blame anyone for our misfortunes. Weâ€™re too busy working to overcome them. We donâ€™t have faith in some distant bureaucrat, rather we turn to the resources that God has placed near at hand. We lean on our brothers. Many of us call on our Father in our time of need, and He sends our neighbors who love us more than we love ourselves. Later, we will turn to our helpers when they need us and repay the debt, only to learn that no debt existed because acts of compassion shower blessings on giver and receiver alike.

We find these local (and spiritual) solutions not only adequate, but invigorating and inspiring because it is only when we are pressed hard by life that we discover there is more life in us, among us and beyond us than we had imagined in carefree hours.