My Rant ~

*A quote by the late Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931-2005
"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

Yes - I know, this is a pretty fiery subject to post but I am just as concerned as each of you at the possibility of our economy's failure and ultimately our Country crumbling.

Do I think we needed to get help to many of the foreclosure victims - Yes.
Do I think we need to support some of the financial backbone industries of our Nation - Yes.

The problem is if this is done without foresight ~ we could be continuing and growing another issue our country has. Dependency instead of Independence.

A great part of my childhood was spent with two of the greatest people ever in this world, my Grandparents Virgil & Catherine Ranker -Blue Collar working class people, their house was from the Sears catalogue and had 'tin' cupboards in the kitchen. Seriously! To take a hand out was just not thought of. They and most of their generation had a different mindset of self-reliance and pride. I am still filled with pride when I think of them and how strong they were and what good people they were - that pride and hard work ethic keeps me going many days when it would be easier to give up when things are tough.

I hear from so many that this is a different time and era. Are we so sure? I remember stories from their day and other's not so far off of their generation about divorce, single parenting, hard times, rebellious teenagers, economic hardships. Not to glorify my Grandfather's hardships but to illustrate a point of his 'never give up' attitude. My Grandfather was one of 9 children, 4 step-siblings, he lived with his step-mother, his father was abusive and a 'drunk', they lived in a small 3 room stone house on a Kansas prairie, he didn't graduate from High School until 21 because of Polio (by the way, he was the only one in his family to graduate and ended up dropping out of College to support his Step-Mother and siblings when his Dad ran off). I could go on and on and not even go into my Grandmother's life. How did they make it through? Sacrifice, hard work and a never quit attitude are what I believe it comes down to.

Think about it......