What Does Our Future Hold?
In a speech given on January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." As we are approaching the fiftieth anniversary of this famous speech I have been looking at what impact that speech had in America other than to serve as a detrimental political ad against Kennedy's own party in current times.
In fifty short years, America has become the nation of entitlements. This was not accomplished over night, but has come about through decades of re-educating our children through the public school systems to believe that they have rights beyond what is promised in the original Constitution or the Amendments to the Constitution. No longer are we a nation of people who ask what we can do to help make our country better, but rather a nation of people who ask what our country is going to do for us.
I have no idea if this photo is real or Photoshopped, but it is indicative of the beliefs of many current Americans. They truly believe that it is their right to get free education, free health care, free housing, free groceries, free clothes, etc. They believe that the only Americans who are opposed to them having these "rights" are the rich Americans who made their money by stepping on the poor.
Let me make it clear that I am neither rich, nor do I ever expect to be so. I know that many people believe that ministers make a lot of money, but that is only because most church members know exactly how much a minister gets for his entire salary package (salary, medical, retirement, social security, housing, etc.). If the average American working at Walmart knew just how much it actually cost the store to employ them, they would never consider most ministers as being rich. However, I am also not poor and am thankful that I serve a church which does not believe that ministers should live in poverty in order to serve God.
I count myself fortunate to have survived public school without being brainwashed into believing that it is the responsibility of the rich (or somebody else) to take care of me if I cannot support myself. I did not believe that it was someone else's responsibility to pay for my education. I worked full-time throughout college to pay for my education and even had five part-time jobs at one time while working on my Master's. I do not believe that the government needs to pay for my dental insurance since I do not have it. I do not believe that the government should pay for my optical insurance since I do not have it. I do not believe that it is the governments responsibility to get me out of debt just because I cannot sell our home in Florida.
Amazingly Jesus never suggested that the governments needed to care for the widows, orphans, homeless, hungry, etc. He said that his people, the children of God, were to do this. He never indicated that the government should educate our children. He said that parents are to do this. We cannot delegate our responsibility to the government which has not placed itself under the authority of God.
Benjamin Franklin said, "When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." [Note: some people have claimed there is no proof that this quote originated with Benjamin Franklin and have attributed it to other contemporaries of his] I encourage everyone reading this to do the moral thing come election day this year. Do not vote entitlements for yourself. Do not expect the government to deal with the problems of society. Do not relegate your responsibilities to the government. Do not ask what the government can do for you. Vote for candidates that support the end of the entitlement nation and the return to a nation that is "of the people, by the people" and "for the people."
In fifty short years, America has become the nation of entitlements. This was not accomplished over night, but has come about through decades of re-educating our children through the public school systems to believe that they have rights beyond what is promised in the original Constitution or the Amendments to the Constitution. No longer are we a nation of people who ask what we can do to help make our country better, but rather a nation of people who ask what our country is going to do for us.
I have no idea if this photo is real or Photoshopped, but it is indicative of the beliefs of many current Americans. They truly believe that it is their right to get free education, free health care, free housing, free groceries, free clothes, etc. They believe that the only Americans who are opposed to them having these "rights" are the rich Americans who made their money by stepping on the poor.Let me make it clear that I am neither rich, nor do I ever expect to be so. I know that many people believe that ministers make a lot of money, but that is only because most church members know exactly how much a minister gets for his entire salary package (salary, medical, retirement, social security, housing, etc.). If the average American working at Walmart knew just how much it actually cost the store to employ them, they would never consider most ministers as being rich. However, I am also not poor and am thankful that I serve a church which does not believe that ministers should live in poverty in order to serve God.
I count myself fortunate to have survived public school without being brainwashed into believing that it is the responsibility of the rich (or somebody else) to take care of me if I cannot support myself. I did not believe that it was someone else's responsibility to pay for my education. I worked full-time throughout college to pay for my education and even had five part-time jobs at one time while working on my Master's. I do not believe that the government needs to pay for my dental insurance since I do not have it. I do not believe that the government should pay for my optical insurance since I do not have it. I do not believe that it is the governments responsibility to get me out of debt just because I cannot sell our home in Florida.
Amazingly Jesus never suggested that the governments needed to care for the widows, orphans, homeless, hungry, etc. He said that his people, the children of God, were to do this. He never indicated that the government should educate our children. He said that parents are to do this. We cannot delegate our responsibility to the government which has not placed itself under the authority of God.
Benjamin Franklin said, "When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." [Note: some people have claimed there is no proof that this quote originated with Benjamin Franklin and have attributed it to other contemporaries of his] I encourage everyone reading this to do the moral thing come election day this year. Do not vote entitlements for yourself. Do not expect the government to deal with the problems of society. Do not relegate your responsibilities to the government. Do not ask what the government can do for you. Vote for candidates that support the end of the entitlement nation and the return to a nation that is "of the people, by the people" and "for the people."
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