WILL THE “NEW WORLD” BECOME THE “NEW EUROPE?”

When Western European countries began to establish settlements and colonies in North America they called it the “New World.” Eventually, the 13 original colonies became an independent country, the United States of America, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Now, over 500 years later, the New World is in danger of regressing into the New Europe, at least economically. For the past four years, America has been transitioning from a state based on initiative, risk-taking, free entertprise and self-reliance to one based on big government and entitlements. The transition has been so gradual that most Americans are not even cognizant of it. The most recent election results have accelerated the process. I fear that if it remains unchecked it will continue to accelerate until, like a snowball rolling downhill, it will become an unstoppable avalanche destroying everything in its path.

The signs are there if one wants to look:

1. We just re-elected a President who has espoused publicly the philosophy of wealth redistribution. He uses code words and phrases like requiring “those who can afford it” and the “rich” to pay their “fair share” and help the “needy.” Sounds reasonable and benign, but raising taxes in this manner penalizes achievers at the expense of non-achievers. Also, we’re not just talking about income taxes, but also taxes on capital gains, to help pay for medicare and Obamacare. Furthermore, as far as resolving our $16 trillion debt and huge annual deficits, these taxes are like putting a bandaid on cancer. The additional revenue only funds the government for a week or so; it doesn’t begin to resolve the broader problem. Don’t be surprised if we are told soon that more taxes on the wealthy are needed, perhaps, a return to the 90% marginal rate of the 1950’s or even a “wealth tax,” which some far left pundits have already proposed.

2. Many if not most Americans agree that we must cut spending in conjunction with raising taxes, but, of course, there is no consensus on which areas to cut. Everyone wants to cut someone else’s program. President Robin Hood and the Dems have vigorously opposed any meaningful spending cuts and have not proposed any spending cuts of their own. Nor will they unless they are forced to do so by the GOP as part of the debt ceiling negotiations. (In that event, they will probably claim the GOP is holding the economy “hostage” by holding up approval.)

3. The size of government has been increasing steadily. Nearly one-half of the population is now receiving some kind of government assistance. Some of this assistance, like social security and aid to the truly needy or disabled, is appropriate. But, entitlements have risen to record levels in both dollars and percentage of population. Every recipient can’t be “truly needy.”

4. The nation’s debt is over $16 trillion and increasing by the second. Try to wrap your mind around that number for a minute. Most people can’t conceive of a number that high, which is part of the problem.

CONCLUSION AND PREDICTION

O’s ultimate goal is for the government to take care of (that means control) its citizens’ life from “cradle to grave.” He doesn’t think or care about how we will pay for it. Folks, that philosophy, plus wealth redistribution, in a nutshell, is the Western European model I referred to earlier. That’s where we’re headed. What’s worse is that a majority of Americans seem to want it. They like the largesse of the government.

Is this majority, greedy, lazy, oblivious, or some combination of the three? This is not the America I grew up in. This is not the America of the last 300 years. The attitude seems to be “Why work for it when you can get it handed to you?” “He’s getting it, why shouldn’t I?” The problem is that “eventually, as Reverend “Wrong,” I mean Reverend Wright, said: “America’s chickens will come home to roost.”