Column by Jacob Sims

During the historic 2008 election cycle, many issues were brought to the forefront of politics that affect many Americans. John McCain and Barack Obama discussed welfare, Medicare, and Social Security, debated on Medicaid, health care, and the economy, and exchanged ideas on the bailout and how to stop corruption in Washington.

I am glad they were discussed because every one of them has two things in common. The first is the threat of the failure of these entitlement programs, the collapse of the economy and the distrust between the public and the politicians are all issues that are putting American’s lives and lifestyles in jeopardy. There is a sentiment of uncertainty that is floating throughout the nation because of the multitude of concerns being the principal topic of the discussion.

Secondly, and more importantly to my argument, the other thing they all have in common is that they were all, whether directly or indirectly, caused by the government’s negligence, dishonesty or irresponsibility.

Even with the election of President Obama and the promises he has made to fix these problems, the business-as-usual government will not change with him. Lifelong politicians do not, all of a sudden, become diligent, honest and responsible, simply because of a new leader.

Even Obama himself has stated that “only government” can solve these problems and has proposed a $1 trillion stimulus package that will dramatically expand the already gigantic size (14.6 million employees) of the government. This only leaves more room for corruption, ineffectiveness and inefficiency.

My foremost concern with the accumulation of these tribulations, more specifically, government programs, is that I fear too many people are no longer independent from the government and, in fact, are reliant upon it. It appears we have lost the rugged individualistic American spirit through litigation and regulation. Our actions are restricted through fear of seemingly endless paperwork, and we begin thinking in terms of what is legal instead of what is just and right.

I think Teddy Roosevelt put it best: “Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity, and hardihood- the virtues that made America. The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life.”

As Americans, we want to believe in the greatness of America and the “Yes, we can” determination. We want to believe that with hard work, perseverance and fortitude, we can achieve the pinnacle of profession. Unfortunately, it is common that the red tape and bureaucracy of government intervenes to the point of discouraging the desire to fulfill the American dream.

The politicians will eventually have to figure out how to unravel the influx of problems that they have created, but spending money that we do not have and inflating our economy is not the right direction. Instead, I feel that it is in the best interest of, not only America, but the citizens of America, that we, the people, solve the problem for them by maintaining a high level of optimism and assurance of our ultimate fate. I feel that it is time for the government that can’t even balance a budget to get out of the way and allow the citizens of this country to achieve what the government can’t.

In the face of every American crisis since our existence, the collection of individual citizens has been the source to cure our ills, not the government. This current crisis should be no different.

We are America. When there is a problem, we solve it. We don’t need a leader to tell us how great this country is; all we need is the people to believe.

“I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure, that it will prevail, that the dream of our founders will live on in our time,” said Obama.

I don’t agree with Obama on much, but I hope he’s right. We will hammer out the details over the next four years.