As you mention, Americans have this inane idea that they cannot fail; that if they cannot succeed on their own, it is the role of the state to ensure they do not sink into poverty. And the federal government has played into this mentality through the New Deal, the Great Society, and other forms of social welfarism.

Americans must realize that prosperity requires risk and hard work. The government cannot hand one success. It can hand one money, but that only feeds this sick culture of dependency and irresponsibility. I think–I hope–that if Americans are once again given control over and responsibility for our own lives, we will rise to the challenge and prosper.

How do we resist that impulse and put some shame back into our public dealings? I have no idea.

I think much of this has to do with the social and political mentality that, I am sorry to say, pervades our legislative branch. I am reporter for a popular publication on the Hill, and last week, at a markup of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), who I have never thought to be particularly intelligent, complained about and bemoaned the detriments of "big business."

Hank didn't say who exactly he was talking about, and I don't think he knew. But somehow this populist image has sneaked its way into our culture and politics that sees anybody who succeeds (i.e. professionally, economically, materially) as somehow responsible for the hardships felt by those who do not.

And this is a very socialist-friendly paradigm. I heard a caller on C-Span's Morning Journal a few days ago echo this sentiment, albeit in very different–and much more honest–terms. He said that he wished the United States could function more like an ant colony, with each citizen performing a prescribed role, working toward the greater good.

I know I do not have to point out to you, sir, everything that is reprehensible, absurd, and frankly stupid about that statement. But it is the mentality that has somehow become widespread in our society. And I fear for the future of our great nation if these "neo-socialists" do not see the error in their ways.

The greatest good is nothing but the betterment of oneself. Coercive utopianism will be our downfall.

Long live the American Republic.

Lachlan