Wednesday, November 5, 2008

A Father's Admonition

My father came to this country in 1921. He loved his birth country, Norway, and visited often until he passed, but he loved America also and valued what it stood for and what it promised...the persuit of happiness. Norway, you see, was and remains a democratic socialist country. Medical and Old Age is provided for by the country. So...why did my father come to America?

He came (his words) because you had the opportunity to succeed here on the basis of your own effort, your own work. And if you really worked hard, you could get ahead and better yourself. In Norway you couldn't fail but you couldn't advance either...the taxes kept you from putting aside something for yourself so you could start a company on your own. Now, it is helpful to know that my father was extremely poor...he had no collateral to take to a bank and no rich friends to approach for an investment...he had to do it all on his own.

The constant message from him was that socialism destroys the desire and the need to be better, to "over" perform, and rewards "just going along" and encourages a dependency, not on yourselves, but on the government. I'm almost as old as he was when he died. I've watched what has happened in America and continues at an accellerated pace today...the Roman empire did not decline as fast as America is falling right now. The so-called "fairness" is socialism...and we have made our choice.

As an older person, I have no desire to emmigrate to start a new life, but to protect the one I have it is necessary now that I look, choose, and remove myself and whatever wealth I have accumulated to support me (without government aide) for the rest of my life (I understand Nicuaragua has a very nice ex-pat community).

But what do I tell my son and my daughter (and my grandchildren)? Where can they find a country that, as America used to, allows and rewards a person's work ethic instead of punishing it?