Self-Reliance

My son gave me a recorded CD of conservative newsman Bill O’Reilly’s book, “A Bold, Fresh Piece of Humanity”. The title comes from what a grade school nun called Bill as a child. I can relate to that because that’s how nuns in my school talked too. I’m enjoying the book immensely because Bill’s views on life are very close to my own. It’s refreshing to hear a media figure tell it like it is instead of how we’d like it to be. It should be required reading (or listening) in all high school classes.

Anyhow, there’s a chapter in the book called “Self-Reliance” that really hit home. Bill says he learned as a child that the only one who is responsible for you is YOU. Sure, parents and teachers can help with your development and encourage you to think for yourself, but in the end it is you who determines the course of your life. How you go about getting what you want from life (ambition), and how you deal with the curves that life throws you (character), is all within yourself.

He uses Hurricane Katrina as an example. A lot of the human suffering associated with that storm came about because the people of New Orleans had been led to believe that whatever went wrong in their lives, the government would be there to fix it. There is no doubt that government action was slow and inefficient after Katrina hit. The governor of Louisiana had no effective storm evacuation plan, and the federal government was typically bogged down in red tape that slowed relief efforts. But the people in the area were also slow to heed the evacuation warnings, or chose to ignore them altogether.

O’Reilly’s point was that what happened in New Orleans was the result of too much dependence on government. He urges people to get an education and acquire the skills needed to get a job...things that are not handed to you, but are attainable in this country if you work for them. Once you do, like most Americans, you are better prepared to deal with what may happen to you and your family without waiting around helpless for the government to step in. Believing that the government can fix all your problems and right all wrongs is a prescription for disaster, as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina sadly proves.

When too many Americans forget that the only person they can truly rely on is themselves, then stick a fork in us, because we’re done. The notion that the government will provide lulls people. They stop relying on themselves to improve their lot and come to rely on the government instead for entitlements they feel should be theirs by right. Education stops, work stops, and soon the benefits stop because we run out of other people’s wealth to redistribute. The government grabs for more and more power to take care of its dependent citizens, and our freedom and liberty slowly but inexorably diminish along with our income.

Socialism has failed time and again in so many places that it can no longer be considered viable as a form of government. If you want to know who is responsible for caring for you and your family, take a hard look in the mirror.

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