American Greatness?

  The role of government should be limited always. There are times when government can advise that its citizens act a certain way or take certain precautions, but it should never mandate that citizens follow the dictates of what it deems best. Such mandates are usually laws that at least have been debated, and have been voted on. Though as we have seen in this recent pandemic all common sense has given way to panic and fear. Now all government edicts it seems are neither debated or voted on, but rather imposed upon the people without debate or the consent of the people. Such edicts usually carry a sense of emergency action is needed and that government norms need to be dispensed with, because of the supposed public crisis. Have we become sheep that will simply follow the tyranny of government? There are those of us who refuse to give into such tyrannical and illegal mandates willingly.

    I walked into a public park the other day without wearing a face covering, and there were still those who despite the state mandate being lifted were still wearing masks. I refuse to give into fear while in public. I might have to wear a mask while at work since that is the policy of my employer. But I refuse to wear one outside in a public space.

    One other thing that has become clear during this pandemic to some is that America needs a rebirth. A rebirth to what? Some would say to the greatness that use to define America. But what defined America during the age of greatness was freedom, independence and self sufficiency. So any rebirth of America must be based on the common acceptance that American citizens should be independent, self-sufficient, and in doing so not require or request government aid, lastly a greater respect for liberty/freedom.

Another trait that made America great was the countries’ willingness to accept immigrants from other nations. The idea of immigrant quotas and legal immigration vs. illegal immigration are new ideas that occurred in the last fifty years of the last century. Why? Out of fear many Americans felt that a lot of immigrants would take jobs away from those citizens already here. In the 1800’s and in the early part of the 1900’S America had open immigration. No borders. If you wanted the rights of citizenship you applied then granted all rights and privileges of being a American citizen. There is longer that strong sense of courage and need for immigrants in our communities. But the truth of the matter is that America is dependent on immigration to renew a citizenry that stagnates and where birth rates decline.

One step in the return to open borders is to do away with granting “illegal” immigrants access to welfare. Immigrants should come here knowing that they will get little help in resettling. Let that be the work of charities not government.

There are many freedoms that we assume that we have an unfettered right to, but government may beg to differ. Since when does a free people bend to the whims of government? When fear overrides common sense, and the people give into the unlawful mandates of both local and federal governments. In other words there are those of today's recent generation who would trade their freedom for a false sense of security. So do we not need a fearless people who seek to be free from any false sense of security that the government may pretend to offer? Thus we as a people have lost the virtue of bravery. To boldly go where others refuse to go out of fear. Or to bravely give refuge to those who would have none despite circumstance. And it is that trait of fearlessness that we need to instill in future generations, so that they don’t make the same mistake that current generations have made.

American greatness? That is a title that can only be given to America through the lens of looking back through history. For it is the job of the current generations of America to work up to the founding ideals of this country securing freedom for all citizens and those immigrants who wish to join in the plenty that liberty has to offer.