With freedom comes responsibility.

A very happy Fourth of July to all my patriotic friends out there. Our founding fathers envisioned a country where an individual had the freedom to pursue any dream he chose. Thankfully, we still have a vestige of that vision left; however, it grows dimmer and dimmer as our government grows bigger and bigger and more and more people forget the flip side of freedom -- responsibility.

How sad that we now have a country where a poor person doesn't say, "I must find my way out of this poverty. I must work hard, get an education, spend what money I have wisely, and strive to be the best that I can be." What the poor person says now is, "What is the government going to do to give me income equality?"

David Null is an example of this mentality. David owns an a/c cleaning company. He bought a catastrophic care insurance policy to cover his family. But he didn't read what the policy's limitations were. It maxed out at $25,000. David didn't realize this until his daughter needed a liver transplant. 

Null says he was deceived. He said he asked "in very plain language for an 'Oh, no!' policy." That's not very plain to me. An insurance agent could put any kind of interpretation he wanted on that. I would have asked for a policy that would cover a truly catastrophic illness or accident -- cancer, transplant, brain injury, etc.

Null testified before a congressional committee about his situation before Obamacare was passed. He said that his daughter would not be able to be an independent businesswoman because she wouldn't be able to get insurance on her own because of her pre-existing condition. "I can't tell her she can grow up to do anything she wants, and you guys need to fix that for me." Whoa! There are lots of people who can't do "anything they want" for a variety of reasons. That doesn't mean they can't still be gainfully employed. And why should congress fix what he messed up? Where is his responsibility in all this?

What's worse is that he is passing down this ideology to his daughter. When the 12-year-old testified, she said, "I do want to live my American dream, and I hope the committee can do that for me." She wants to live her American dream, but she wants the committee to do it for her? 

Yes, it would be nice to sit back and just let the blessings flow in, wouldn't it? Thank goodness for those revolutionary soldiers (and all the others down through the years) who took the responsibility upon themselves to fight for our freedoms. Where would we be if they'd all sat back and said to their political leaders, "You need to fix this for us"? They didn't fight for handouts and a nanny state. They fought for the right of every American to care for his own family by the sweat of his own brow. Today is a good day for us to be reminded of that.

"Panel hears grim tales of 'underinsured." The Dallas Morning News; October 16, 2009; p. 1A.