American Spirit & Soul

Competition is the soul of America. It is the source of the nation’s exceptionalism and the impetus of its power and wealth. The Declaration of Independence does not guarantee a universal right to happiness. Rather, it confirms mankind’s right to pursue such happiness through individual drive and enterprise. The promise of America is the promise of humanity – to wit, that each human being, irrespective of religion, race or gender, has a god-given right to fairly compete for a better station in life.

American history is replete with examples of valiant individual struggles and remarkable national movements, all of which are aimed at realizing a dream of equal protection under the law, e.g., abolitionism, women’s suffrage and civil rights. The heroic leaders of these respective movements, Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Stone Blackwell, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, each shared a common goal – that of securing a merit based system in American society, whereby each individual could fairly compete, and succeed or fail, based solely upon his or her respective skills, ambition, prudence and luck.

Having fought so hard, and having sacrificed so much to establish a government that trusts the people to trust themselves, Americans now feel betrayed. Over the course of the past four years, the United States’ Congress has systematically reversed what took centuries for Americans to establish. In a depressed domestic market with minimal economic growth, American businesses are currently being taxed at 35% on all new corporate investments. Prospective American job-creators – small business owners, high income earners and investors – presently forfeit over half of their earned income to state and federal taxes. Worse yet, these excessive burdens, and a litany of others, are due to increase in January. The American people are being excluded from competing in the global market and their government is the source of their problems. This week’s election was not only a referendum on President Obama and the Democrats in control of Congress; it was a broad condemnation of the theories that encompass big-government. Hopefully, President Obama will take heed of the warnings of America’s frustrated electorate and dedicate the remainder of his term in office to downsizing the government he has spawned. However, if he chooses to ignore the will of the people and refuses to budge on taxes, regulation and trade, he will have sealed his political fate.

It is the logic of the progressive-left that many Americans, I among them, find difficult to comprehend. For instance: How can a group of people who believe that Americans are incapable of governing themselves, declare themselves capable of governing? How can these people manipulate the edicts of capitalism in a more efficient manner than the laws of supply-and-demand? How can the President and the liberal-elite dare to compete with the innate ingenuity and natural industry that is the spirit and soul of America? Of course, these questions cannot be logically answered. The American People are aware of this, and have cast their votes accordingly.