I saw this country evolve from (what my grandfather found to be) a place where a person could work hard and become anything they wanted to be, to an entitlement society where people somehow believe they have an absolute right to a high standard of living.
We have been lulled into a false sense of security by politicians promising things they can’t deliver. They get elected by using a national credit card, but are going to hand the bill to someone else.
This has resulted in a massive, inefficient, irresponsible government that we have bet our future on.
The truth that our grandfathers understood so clearly was that you can only consume what you produce. Earlier generations knew that the more they could produce to satisfy others’ wants, the more prosperous they would become themselves. If you produce something that people want, it can always be traded for something you want.
Because back then people were willing to work hard and take risks, the country realized the highest standard of living the world had ever seen.
I knew a country where people would pull together and make the personal sacrifices needed to win World War II. Now we want someone else to make the sacrifices.
Now we are told that doing business and creating jobs is evil. We are told that the same corporations that provide the goods and services that are, in fact, our high standard of living are the enemies of our society.
I am shocked that today’s society concentrates on beating the system so they can live high on the hog without working, taking risk, or contributing to the national standard of living.
People want to believe what the politicians tell them, even when they should know better. They don’t think they have any responsibility for making wise choices. That their high standard of living must somehow be a God-given right that can’t be taken away no matter how they vote. That prosperity is not something that is earned.
Unscrupulous people seized on this condition in our society and used it to gain power. They realize that they can say what people want to hear (so they will get elected) and they will never be held responsible. Unfortunately, this has corrupted government all the way down to our local city councils.
All of a sudden, the statesmen who were willing to bite the bullet and do what was best for the country were no longer getting elected. A new kind of politician evolved, and political advantage became the objective, and that overshadows what is best for the country. Our most capable people with high personal standards will not enter politics because they aren’t willing to submit their integrity to this perverted system. These giants of our county were the very people we used to rely on to provide us leadership.
We now have a Congress that is not willing to face the issues that face the country. Social Security was clearly a pyramid scheme designed to get us out of the Depression and should have been put on a solid financial footing after World War II. Illegal immigration was created by the politicians in the ’60s, and they never to this day wanted to face the consequences. No one in this country had any question that our supply of energy (foreign oil) was a problem, when we were setting in gas lines in the early ’70s. In this new political era, our Congress is clearly not acting in the best interest of the country.
We now live in a global society. My advice to my grandchildren is, if the people in this country don’t wake up and face the facts, they should do what my grandfather did: Relocate anywhere in the world where the opportunity for the good life exists.
Walter Heer is a Paso Robles resident. Send comments to the executive editor at rmiller@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 17-24, 2008.
