by T.L. Davis
When settlers came to America they had to struggle from the ground up. There was no existing government with which they had to contend. The only government they had, they brought with them in the form of mutual compacts. This was the miracle of self-governance into most had been born and had become accustomed until the colonies began to create wealth that inflamed the greed of Britain.
As a means to enrich itself, Britain passed laws against the liberty of the settlers; choosing for itself a larger and larger share of the profits from their labor. It took more than a century for the laws to become so oppressive that the colonists began to resist, eventually throwing off that yoke. Ingrained in the American psyche, however, was the thought that they could govern themselves; that they needed no master from whom to beg privileges. All they needed was the liberty to create and the freedom to dare.
Now, as American sloth and apathy (encouraged by would-be masters) has replaced those noble instincts toward self-government and self-reliance the mechanism of strength and liberty is failing. Like a long neglected engine, it is starting to falter. It is a mixture of ingredients that make the American engine run smoothly, but that recipe is lost. Those entrusted with it have replaced self-reliance with dependency; liberty with compliance; duty with force and pride with shame.
