During his inaugural address on January 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced the following appeal: “And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” These words have been imprinted on the minds of all who are old enough to remember them and immortalized in our nation’s history of political leadership.
Since the presidency of JFK, our country has been perceptibly sliding away from the pride of self-determination and self-reliance. Social programs have been constantly intensified to the extent that during the recent presidential campaign, ads have celebrated the fictional character whose name is Julia. The ‘infomercial’, entitled, “Life of Julia’ depicts the life of a three year old girl progressing through life until age 67 when she retires with Social Security benefits and Medicare and lives ‘happily ever after’.
Between the age of three and 67, the narrative chronicles Julia’s participation in ‘Head Start’ in her early school years and graduation from a typical public school. Julia attends college afforded by her government student loan while government funding covers healthcare including birth control. Following college graduation, Julia is employed as a web designer and at age 31 decides to fulfill her destiny of becoming a mother, no mention of a husband. Son Zachary attends a public school where he is involved in the federal program ‘Race to the Top’. Julia forms and operates her own Web business, retiring at age 67 with full government benefits. Government all the way.
An ever-increasing workforce is being assembled, especially at the federal level. While about 7% of workers in the private sector belong to labor unions, the number of unionized government workers is 36%. Although union officials are now lobbying congress for higher pay, they already receive generous compensation and benefits compared with their private sector counterparts. Federal employees contribute less than 1% of their salaries to defined benefit packages. Federal workers get more holidays, longer vacations and a greater allotment of sick leave than comparable private sector employees. Government workers can usually retire earlier leaving plenty of time to develop a new career with retirement benefits (called double dipping).
In 2010, contending that everyone should have a college education, the Obama administration changed government’s role from a guarantee program for private lenders to direct federal funding. Candidates need not provide credit information about their ability to repay the loans or mention the types of courses of study they plan to take. In 2011, 93% of student loans were placed directly with the federal government. Of the $956 billion in student loans, 11% or about $105 billion were 90 days or more delinquent at the end of September of this year.
Only a few years ago Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were guaranteeing many mortgages that could not stand up to reasonable credit scrutiny. The government has dumped billions of dollars into these organizations to save unqualified homebuyers who were told they ‘deserved’ home ownership in spite of their inability to make mortgage payments.
Our country has moved from an independent citizenry to a culture of dependence. Entitlements and public debt are increasing at an alarming rate. We are a deeply divided nation of ‘makers’ and ‘takers’. All US citizens deserve equal opportunity, not to be confused with equal outcomes (results). The two political parties have staked out their unyielding positions on the way forward. The President is campaigning while the Congress is complaining. Procrastination and the blame game are not the answer. God gave us two ends, an end to sit on and an end to think with; our destiny depends on which end we use the most: Heads we win, tails we lose.
