By
Ron Ewart
February 15, 2017
NewsWithViews.com
"Life is a fight, a fight to stay alive and a fight to keep others and government from taking your life or your liberty from you. Acknowledge that fact and you might just survive as a free man. Those awash in self-pity and think of themselves as victims will never be free and they will be a heavy burden on the rest of society." —Ron Ewart
In the year 1620 and beyond, they crossed the Atlantic in sailing ships to get to America and freedom. The journey could take anywhere from six to 12 weeks to make the crossing, depending on the winds. Life aboard ship was primitive at best. Firsthand accounts speak of illness, cramped quarters, food and water rations. They had to endure scurvy, diphtheria, dysentery and seasickness. They were at the mercy of the captain, ship owners ..... and the sea. Many of them died during the passage. Because the journey was so long, when passengers died, their bodies were thrown overboard because there was no way to store them on the ship. The bones of thousands of Pilgrims are held forever in the bosom of the Atlantic Ocean, on their failed journey to freedom.
There
was no government to protect the Pilgrims, pay their fare to the new
land, or provide a handout if they got sick or destitute. Those who
could not pay were required to remain on board the ship until they were
sold into indentured servitude and forced to work to pay for their voyage.
When the surviving Pilgrims landed on the shores of America, they were faced with life in the wilderness and attacks by local Indian tribes. Health care and doctors were almost non-existent. You either survived because of your wits and plain dumb luck, or died from the elements, starvation, disease, or an Indian arrow.
They crossed the plains in covered wagons to reach some dream they had of owning land in the territories, or striking it rich in the gold fields. They built up little towns and roads, bridges, businesses and schools. Then the trains came and they could expand their travel and markets exponentially. The only thing the government did was to provide the land for the railroad companies and land grants to eager settlers, under the Homestead Act of 1862. If the settler worked and improved his land for five years, it was his land to keep for free and he will have earned it many times over.
But other than that, there was no government farming subsidies. There were no food stamps, rent assistance, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, welfare, much less free college tuition. These hardy people built a nation and they did it with little help from government and even less government interference. They persevered by main strength and awkwardness. Many times they lost, but got up again and pressed forward. Their strength was built on adversity. They didn't "cry", "moan", "groan", or "complain" to government when the going got tough. They just worked harder or found a way to "fix" whatever they faced at the time. They didn't win all the time but nevertheless, most never gave up. That beginning environment of adversity forged the strength of a nation and was the foundation of a strong, prosperous and exceptional America.
When the wave of European immigrants passed through Ellis Island (1892 to 1954) eager to come to the land of the free and the home of the brave, government provided little to no assistance. In fact, the government went to great lengths to see that the arriving immigrants could support themselves and had enough money to get started in their new land. The government even initiated a "head tax" for arriving immigrants. They were screened for disease and other maladies. Up to 20% of the arriving immigrants were returned to their native country for one reason or another.
Not so today. Illegal immigrants that evade the Border Patrol receive no screening for disease or the ability to sustain themselves. There is little effort to round them up and deport them for breaking our immigration laws, once "lost" in the general population. Instead, they are molly coddled, pampered, paid and protected by sanctuary jurisdictions and immigration advocates.
Legal and illegal immigrants and refugees arriving in America receive all kinds of government assistance, a monumental burden on the American taxpayer, a huge drag on the economy and a giant magnet to attract more of them. It is no wonder that America is broke and deep in debt.
But let's get back to the "Poor Me" whiners, crybabies, protestors and self-ascribed victims in America that inhabit our colleges, ghettos and immigrant enclaves. Millions of Americans and legal and illegal immigrants have become the "poor me" generation, most of them subscribing to the left side of politics. Their forbearers of colonial and pioneer days are rolling in their graves to see how their descendants turned out. More than half of them wouldn't survive under the conditions our forefathers and mothers had to endure. If they suddenly found themselves in the wilderness, most of them wouldn't have the slightest idea on how to survive, because they haven't been taught.
They haven't been taught about self-reliance, personal responsibility and individual freedom. They haven't been trained to survive when the going gets tough. Adversity builds strength and character. The easy life, where there is no discipline and where everything is provided for them, leads to personal weakness, low self-esteem and the desire to indulge in pleasures of the flesh. Instead of looking to them selves to solve their own problems, they have been taught to look to government and government is only too eager to "help" them, but with a string attached. The string comes at the voting booth where those receiving the government "help" are obliged to vote for those providing the "help."
We all know which Party is offering the "help", with money from the Public Treasury to which none in the Party own any piece thereof. Under law, they call this robbing-the-till for personal gain what it is, grand theft, punishable by fines and imprisonment. Unfortunately, the "help" this Party offered to its "Poor Me" groupies turned out to be a very expensive, slowly evaporating mirage on a distant horizon. That "help" just converted otherwise potentially strong individuals, into crybabies and bowls of quivering yellow jelly and made them helpless cripples.
What we do know is that those reading this column are probably not members of the "Poor Me" generation.
Ever since the government-triggered Great Depression and the rapid rise of socialism under FDR, America has been headed downhill, away from individual freedom, self-reliance and personal responsibility and towards collectivism, dependency and government control of everything. The passage of the 16th Amendment in 1913, which created the Federal Reserve and the IRS, was no coincidence. It was no coincidence that the government, in the late 1920's, retained the University of Illinois and Harvard University to study how to control people through their subconscious minds. It was no coincidence that the U. S. economy suddenly collapsed in 1929. It was no coincidence that socialism rose rapidly under FDR during the 1930's and beyond. It was no coincidence that the gold standard was abolished in 1933. America was bankrupt, threatened by Communism and headed for Hell. Socialism and top-down control of the masses was government's and the central bankers' answer.
We just received a response to one of our recent articles where the person described, in one paragraph, what happened to America since the 1930's. He wrote:
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