The Morning Sentinel Freedom First Network

There's a difference between depending on someone and being dependent. As humans, we should be able to depend on the people around us to help us when we need, just as they should be able to depend on us when we are needed. There's nothing wrong with depending on family and friends. Even our neighbors can be benefits to us just as we should be benefits to them. That's part of the American way and it's part of being human.

There are times when we should be able to depend on our communities as well. In times of major strife, being able to turn to the local community, our church, or local organizations can be true blessings when we need them the most.

With family, friends, neighbors, churches, and our communities, we can engage in the fellowship associated with being both dependable to others and depending on them when we need. Dependence on government, however, is completely different. It is a one-way street. They do not depend on us for anything, and while we may believe they depend on us for tax dollars that they steal regularly or our productivity that they rely upon to keep society going, they don't really need us. We are a number to them, and as such, to them, our existence makes no difference.

This is why being dependent on government in any way is an affront to our freedom. It is why we should, as a free people, strive to rid ourselves of any dependency we have on government. By being dependent, we are beholden. By being beholden, we are at their mercy. And if you think that any government is benevolent and working only on behalf of the people, then you haven't been paying very much attention. What they say and what they do are two very different things.

By no means am I suggesting that we don't need government. Law and order require governing bodies to make certain those who do wrong are held accountable. But even in this basic expectation we should have for our government, so many of them have been failing miserably at it. From defunding police to letting violent criminals off regularly, it's clear that many governments at every level are not fulfilling their oath to defend the constitution and thereby defend the people from forces of evil.

It's a reasonable expectation that our government should keep us safe from foreign invaders. Yet even the most tone-deaf politicians are having a hard time ignoring the sad song being played at our southern border. If an illegal alien enters the country and tests positive for Covid-19, they will not be sent back for instance. If an American citizen tries to reenter the country after testing positive for Covid, they will be turned away. This is just one of dozens of examples of the hypocrisy that we're facing with a government that has abandoned its role of preventing foreign invasions.

As billions of dollars are being sent to Ukraine to be distributed among their oligarchs and helping to prolong the war with Russia, thereby prolonging the suffering of the Ukrainian people, American citizens are getting shafted with massive food shortages, including the insane baby formula shortage. We're often told by virtue-signaling politicians that we must defend the most vulnerable among us. Well, there are no Americans more vulnerable than infants, and our government has failed miserably to prevent or end the baby formula crisis. Shelves in the baby aisle should be the last ones to go bare in a civilized and caring society, yet they are the first in the long line of food shortage dominoes to fall. That is an unexpected insult to add to our growing list of injuries.

As a free people, we can no longer have a reasonable expectation of safety, security, or prosperity safeguarded by our government. That hasn't been the case for a long time in the United States of America, but it's quickly becoming our present-day reality. And perhaps that's a good thing. Perhaps we have grown too complacent, too expectant, and too...