On another post, a blogger referred to the fact that we are considered a "free nation" by mocking it because we cannot get food, housing, and clothing for free. He assumed that that is what was meant by "free".

That is an ignorant and grossly manipulated use of the words. We are free as individuals to determine our own course, and to make our own decisions. We can speak freely, we can worship freely, and, yes, we are free to solicit assistance from individuals in helping us pay for what we need to survive. But to assume such responsibility to be the role of the government is patently absurd and irresponsible.

We could extend this spurious logic to say that slaves in this country were free. Their food, shelter, and clothing were provided them by their plantation owners, and they wanted for nothing, hypothetically, at least. Sure, there were bad plantation owners, but using this person's logic we should have rallied for slaves' rights instead of their emancipation.

I immediately think back to a line from the movie "Braveheart", one of my all time favorites. When the princess offers William Wallace a sum of money from Longshanks, she comments, "peace is made in such ways", and he replies, "SLAVES are made in such ways". As I have worked studying the actions of CPS, I have noticed the strong correlation between government aid and CPS action. CPS will often use the rolls of those receiving government assistance as identifiers for "at risk" families, and will take upon themselves the role of fixing them. In fact, many housing projects have social workers on site to "assist" the families in raising their children the way the state deems acceptable. They will enroll the children in Head Start preschool programs to begin indocrinating them to the state at the age of three, and they will question every means of discipline the family employs in handling their children. They will hand out cards to the children without the parents' knowledge or consent and encourage the children to call them the first time there is a conflict between the wishes of a child or a parent. In short, these government programs that are being encouraged are creating a generation of slaves...and every minority activist in this country should be alarmed.

True freedom for these individuals will only come about when they are forced to provide for themselves the resources they need. Contrary to popular belief, most American poor are not dumb, and are VERY resourceful. While they may lack much in book learning, they possess incredible "street smarts" that teach them how to manipulate the system to their advantage. They hop around from relief agency to relief agency, visiting each infrequently enough to sell their tale of woe without anyone being the wiser, and moving on. They fence their food stamp money for drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol (trust me, I've seen this happen...and LW can attest to it as well), and most, contrary to popular belief, receive FAR more food stamp funds than they need to purchase food for the month. Because they begin to rely on these benefits as "income", they become addicts...and we, as a society, become enablers.

I have long referred to this mentality as "the cult of victimhood", and, indeed, it is a cult. It robs people of their freedom, their autonomy, and their resourcefulness. While cutting off the stream of government aid may seem to be a harsh solution, it is nonetheless a necessary one, and if we as a people can rediscover our self reliance, we should be eternally grateful for the end result.

The blogger in question refers to an anecdotal one legged diabetic who lives off of SSI and receives $10 in food stamps (I swear by all that's holy, emp, if you touch this one, I'll strike you down where you stand...lol). Assuming this tale of woe to be true, I am inclined to ask if that $10 is so essential that the man simply MUST have it, or if he could find some other way.

Heck, I'll even make this offer: give me his address and I'll send him the $10 a month MYSELF...but ONLY if he swears to give up the food stamps (AND follows through). My money's legal tender; food stamps can only be used for certain purchases.