Saturday, April 3, 2010

Address to America

These Three Things

My name is Bobby Taylor. I am an American. I was raised by great parents who are part of what Tom Brokaw calls the Greatest Generation. Theirs is the generation that sent 16 million men and women into harms way during World War II to protect our freedoms and defend the greatest country in the world; The United States of America. Luckily for my mother, my brothers and sisters, and me, my father survived the war in the South Pacific. Regretfully, almost three hundred thousand of the Greatest Generation gave their lives so that I, so that we, can live and work and raise our families in the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave. They took responsibility, very personal responsibility, for assuring that we could continue to live the American Dream!

I grew up on a small family farm in Cullman County, Alabama. My parents taught me that good things come from hard work, and that life offers no guarantees. They taught me the value of honesty and integrity, and they taught me that I am responsible for who I am, what I have, and where I will go. My parents taught me that if I want something, I have to work for it. They taught me that nothing in life is free! They taught me to be responsible for myself while being willing to help others. I learned that when I fail, it is my responsibility to pick myself up and try again. I learned that it is not anyone’s responsibility but mine to provide what I need or what I want. It is not the government’s job to take care of me. Not only should I not expect the government to take care of me, I know that I do not want the government to take care of me, because in order for the government to give me anything, it must first take it from the person who created it, or grew it, or earned it. And as I have already said, nothing in life is free. If I allow the government to take care of me, it will want something in return. It will take my liberty. My parents taught me, and I learned, and I know, that I must take personal responsibility for my life!

Our country was founded by people who believed that good things come from hard work. They did not come to this new land expecting to be given anything but a chance, and they got a chance. At first it was a chance to starve during the cold winters. A chance to die from disease. A chance to be killed by an unseen enemy. But because they worked hard and persevered, our Founding Fathers were given the chance to create the greatest country in the world; The United States of America. They didn’t quit, and they didn’t ask somebody else to take care of them. America’s early settlers chose unbelievable hardships in order to have freedom and opportunity. Do you think it was easy for the refugees on the Mayflower to leave their homeland and everything they knew, cross a big ocean on a small boat, and settle in a new land just so they could be free to worship their God in the way they wanted? Do you think it was easy for George Washington and his soldiers to spend a cold, wet winter at Valley Forge without proper equipment and food, just so they could fight another battle, a battle that they would probably lose? Do you think it was easy for Jim Bridger, Kit Carson and hundreds of other Mountain Men to cross the Mississippi River and the plains, and then have to conquer the Rocky Mountains, as they sought their individual freedom and expanded our new nation? Remember, these earliest freedom-loving Americans did not have the Interstate Highway System to make traveling easy, they did not have the Occupational Health and Safety Administration to keep them safe, and they did not have government healthcare to take care of them when they were sick. These real American Patriots voluntarily faced hardships that we cannot even comprehend just so that they could have freedom and opportunity.

Let me ask you a very important question; what are you willing to do in order to have freedom and opportunity? Are you willing to do without government handouts? Are you willing to make your voice heard? Are you willing to take action so that the out-of-control Federal Government knows that you will not trade your freedom and economic opportunity for bigger government, more taxes, and a national debt that is bankrupting us for generations to come? I know we want to be free, but are we willing to face the hardships that may be required to maintain that freedom?

America is great, but it is not perfect. Here are the major problems with our government, These Three Things:

Number One: Government is too big, and it wants to get bigger. Many of our elected officials, and here is something that is truly bi-partisan, believe that we are unable or unwilling to take care of ourselves. Big Government believes that it knows what is best for me and it believes it knows what is best for you! Big Government does not understand that personal responsibility and liberty is the bedrock that supports our Constitution and is what has set us apart from the rest of the world. I am not an orphan who can do nothing without Big Government’s help. I am an American, and I can stand on my own two feet and I want to stand on my own two feet! Hey, Big Government, get off my back and get out of our way!

Number two: Big Government has to have a big checkbook. The only problem is that Big Government does not have any money. So guess what? Big Government has to tax me, and tax me some more, and Big Government has to tax you! As long as we allow Big Government to grow, our taxes will grow even faster. But that is not the worst of it. The worst part is that even though Big Government keeps taking more of our money in taxes, it is still spending more than it has taken from us. The country’s debt is no longer our debt. It now belongs to our children and grandchildren. No business can survive by continually running up debt, and neither can Big Government. Eventually Big Government’s house of cards will fall, and mighty will be its fall. Hey, Big Government, stop stealing from me and my children and my grandchildren!

Here is the third problem with Big Government: It thinks it can run our business, and many of our businesses, better than we can. The free market is what made America the most prosperous nation in the history of mankind. American ingenuity, not government control, is what makes our economy the envy of the world. You can go to any country in the world, and you will immediately see just how much better Americans live than the rest of the world. Oh, sure, you can find the rich in foreign countries, and you can find the poor in America. But nowhere else in the world will you find the abundance of goods and services that are commonly available to most Americans. Our government cannot balance its budget. It can’t make a profit off its rail service or the Post Office, even though they are monopolies. Union Pacific Railroad and Federal Express can turn a profit, but not Big Government. Now we are letting them run, or maybe I should say ruin, our healthcare system. Duh. Has anyone looked at the VA Hospital System to see how the government is doing at managing healthcare? Has anyone noticed that Medicare and Medicaid are broke, and that already many doctors do not accept patients who are “government insured”? Government was never meant to run our businesses and Government should stay out of our business. Americans using the free market and free enterprise made us the richest country in the world. Hey, Big Government, let free market capitalism grow our economy!

What can we do to bring America back to its roots and insure our country survives and prospers so that our children and our grandchildren can achieve the American Dream? We must do These Three Things:

Number One: Vote for candidates who support limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the free market. Enact term limits at the voting booth to get the “old school” politicians out of the way. A candidate may have views different from you on many issues, but they must promise to support these three positions in order to get our vote: Limited Government. Fiscal Responsibility. Free-Market Capitalism.

Number Two: Call, write and email your Congressmen and the President. Let them know that you are not going to sit quietly by while our country and our children’s future are foreclosed on because of their irresponsibility. Let them clearly know that you are in favor of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the free market. Every time you hear something that makes you feel bad about our country, and every time you hear something that makes you feel good about our country, let your elected representatives know about it. Sound off!

The third thing we must do: Tell your friends and neighbors how you feel. Tell anyone who will listen how you feel. Do not be a “closet” patriot. Everybody else is coming out of the closet, so must the American Patriots. Attend rallies, marches and town halls so that our message of Limited Government, Fiscal Responsibility and Free Market Capitalism is amplified across the country. Create a blog and use Facebook to voice your opinions. Communicate in every way you know so that our message is heard loud and clear. If there is not a good candidate running for an office in your district, then find someone to run who will protect our country by upholding our Constitution. If there is no one else, then it just might be your turn. Support the movement. Put your wallet where your mouth is. You do not have to give hundreds of dollars to make a difference. Every little bit helps. How much we really care about our country will not be measured by how loud we yell, but by how much time, effort, and regretfully, money, we are willing to invest to maintain our freedoms.

The battle we are in now is a bi-partisan, multi-cultural battle. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, left or right, straight or gay, whether you are religious or atheist, pro-life or pro-choice, whether you are young or old, black or white, whatever your "cause", Limited Government, Fiscal Responsibility and Free Market Capitalism will make your life better. These Three Things will make America better. The only people who will be hurt by These Three Things will be the professional politicians who are robbing us and stealing from our children and generations to come, and those who think Big Government should provide for their every need by creating a welfare state that redistributes the wealth of America and where personal responsibility is a thing of the past.

The United States of America is a great country. It is the greatest country. But we are on the wrong track. We must get back to our roots. We must once again make our Constitution the supreme law of the land. We can no longer be quite. Our message must be heard. We will be heard. We must elect representatives who will uphold our Constitution, and who believe like we do in These Three Things; Limited Government, Fiscal Responsibility, and Free-Market Capitalism.

May God bless you. May He bless our cause. And may God Bless America!

Bobby Taylor is a retired entrepreneur who lives in Cullman, Alabama. He and his wife, Kim, have four children and six grandchildren. Bobby is a proud veteran, having served six years in the U.S. Army, who describes himself as a Constitutional Conservative. He loves the outdoors and is a lifetime member of the National Eagle Scout Association, the National Rifle Association, the Great Smoky Mountains Association, and the Iditarod Trail Committee. Bobby Taylor can be contacted through his website at www.wildroamings.com.


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