Thinking about the Unthinkable

Back in 1962 Herman Kahn wrote a book entitled "Thinking about the unthinkable".  It discussed nuclear war and did not assume that we should all just commit suicide if we weren't immediately killed by the bombs.

It is now time for many Americans to start thinking about a new unthinkable; the loss of America to Americans who don't believe in what America stands for.

Forty years ago no one would have seriously thought that someone like President Obama could ever have been elected president. That he was indicates that what was previously unthinkable has become that which we must cognate on.

How do we rebuild an America where a sufficiently large minority of Americans who no longer feel they should be responsible for themselves exists and can determine who runs the country?

America has always stood for individual liberty and individual responsibility.   Americans commitment to the individual was so strong that even when most Americans thought blacks were inferior Americans went to war to end slavery.

Yet  Obama was able to cobble together a coalition of those who do not include individual responsibility or individual liberty in their vision of America.

Instead Obama found that many Americans would sell their liberty for more government money or for promises of special treatment by the government. True the average Obama voter was not aware of what freedoms they were selling but they, unlike previous generations of Americans, were quite willing to support a candidate whose only economic solution was to take money from those who earned to and give that money to those who didn't earn it.

In some sense the situation in America today is eerily reminiscent of what was happening in pre-Civil War America.  Instead of slaves we have the new government serfs who are economically and culturally discriminated against.  Back in the Middle Ages a serf had to work 3 months out of every year for the "evil" rulers. Today a hard working American has to work 3.5 months. The Americans who pay taxes spend more on taxes than on food, clothing, and housing combined.





While tax serfs are not in as dire straights as slaves the simple fact is that it is wrong to take from those who work to give to those who don't wish to work.  We can all agree that there is no problem helping those who have physical or mental handicaps nor does anyone object to helping those who are trying but who are down on their luck for a short time and need assistance.

But when we see men with multiple children by multiple women living comfortable lifestyles based on welfare and food stamps we see a gross injustice. Similarly when a person on the government dole can live a lifestyle on par with those who work at menial labor there is a violation of the true spirit of charity at work.

It's important to keep in mind that those living off the government are paid with money confiscated at gun point.  If you don't pay your taxes the government will be very sure to use any and all mechanisms--unless you're an Obama cabinet nominee of course--to get their money.  If welfare was paid for out of voluntary donations then there would be nothing to discuss since people can obviously do with what is theirs what they want.

In the end the world will come tumbling down for those who reject the historical American commitment to individual responsibility.  Eventually the producers will either give up or rebel and then those whose only capability is to vote for thieves will find themselves unable to take care of themselves.

But out of love for our fellow American's, even the takers, we need to think about the unthinkable; how do we return America to the ideals that made America great?  The path will not be without suffering but we can pray that it will be without the violence needed to right America the last time, when we eliminated the evil of slavery.