It's staggering how many Americans actually believe that they can get something "free" from the government. Idiots.

Nothing in human history can surpass the foolishness of Americans who look to the government to supply their needs or make their lives easier, and yet, that’s what many contemporary folks are doing in the “land of the free.”  Thanks to government-run public schools and a devious media empire, many people are ignorant of how the government works or even, how it is supposed to work.

Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has promised to make a two-year college education “free” to all those who want it.  Tens of thousands of people attend his rallies and listen to his promises.  The trouble is, it’s just another liberal lie. 

Nothing that a government provides is ever free, but many of our fellow citizens cannot understand or refuse to accept this fact.  Far too many people view the federal government as a host of sources of revenue to be tapped rather than financial burdens and collective liabilities that are inefficient, costly, cumbersome and often, incompetent.  The United States is $22 trillion dollars in debt and cannot possibly fund a college education for every student, but Sanders’ supporters are clearly too ignorant to comprehend this.

The misnamed Affordable Care Act (A.C.A.) is a colossal example of governmental corruption, incompetence, inefficiency and waste.  The overall cost of healthcare coverage for the average American has tripled as benefit levels have plummeted.  The reporting requirements of the Healthcare Marketplace are nearly equal to those demanded by the IRS in a joint income tax return.  Citizens were promised that the A.C.A. or Obamacare would keep costs low and slow the rate of inflation while providing healthcare for millions of uninsured people.  It has utterly failed to accomplish any of those goals at enormous cost to taxpayers.  Congress has not yet gotten the message.

In 2008, there were 40 million people without healthcare coverage.  Today, there are 40 million people without healthcare coverage.  Lawmakers who advocated Obamacare lied to the public about the facts and national and local media agents helped them spread their deception and bury the truth.  Politicians told us that people who liked their current coverage could keep their plans, but those plans disappeared.  As with any government program, you pay more, get less and forfeit another-little-piece-of-your-heart.  Many short-sighted people are eager to tell the government, “Take it!” 

Every proposed federal government program or policy deserves scrutiny and skepticism.  Our federal government will not secure our borders, cannot protect our citizens from radical Islamic terrorists and grows increasingly hostile to religious freedom and any moral code or standard.  Supreme Court Justices and federal court judges render unconstitutional edicts based upon their personal feelings rather than the nation’s timeless principles, demonstrating a woeful and treacherous lack of integrity. 

Federal lawmakers and administration officials incessantly attempt to strip citizens of their Second Amendment right to bear arms and limit speech that is critical of their schemes.  During congressional campaigns, politicians often blame one another for “shipping jobs overseas.”  The truth is, no one ships jobs overseas.  Burdensome federal tax rates and oppressive government regulations coupled with growing federal mandates drive businesses overseas.  Overregulation fueled by animus and envy is smothering American business and industry at every level.

America’s continued survival will depend upon people realizing that businesses benefit us all.  Contrary to Democrat talking points, corporations are not hostile to the persons or the welfare of individuals, and the wealthy are not inherently evil or oppressive.  Businesses need people to employ and people need the jobs they provide.  The poor are not “less fortunate” because the wealthy appear to be more fortunate.  There is neither inherent virtue in poverty nor inherent evil in wealth.

It’s troubling and a bit frightening to hear people speak of “getting money from the government” or “the government will pay for that.”  Many of our citizens have no idea that what one man receives from the government comes out of another man’s pocket.  The U.S. government has no money that it has not seized from another taxpayer or from a business. 

Governments can be helpful and effective servants or they will become brutal and merciless tyrants.  Which of these forms our government takes on will be decided by the policies we choose to accept as well as those we refuse to oppose.  The amount of freedom that any people enjoys is always inversely proportional to the size and power of their government. 

The manifest ignorance of the average American citizen does not portend a bright future of wealth and prosperity or of peace and freedom for this nation.  The ease with which people willingly forfeit their precious freedom to become the voluntary slaves of their own government is ignoble and horrifying.  Benjamin Franklin said, “Those who would forfeit liberty in exchange for security deserve neither liberty nor security.”  Perhaps we will be ready to learn this truth only after we have lost both. 

The United States government was forged by wise, selfless and noble men who worked tirelessly under the inspiration of God to build a nation unlike any other.  It cannot long endure being operated by banal scalawags and ingrates who respect not the sacrifices of their predecessors or who harbor contempt for the very people they profess to serve.  Neither Democrat presidential candidate possesses the least of these qualities. 

If our next president is a leader who will reverse the reckless and malicious acts of the past seven years, America may yet survive.  May we be people worthy to ensure that America remains the land of the free.