The Land of Opportunity

I believe that we have lost sight of what this country is.  This is a land of opportunity. 

Inscribed below the Statue of Liberty that stands on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, are the words,

“Give me your tired, your poor,

your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

  The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The entire sonnet, The New Colossus, by Emma Lazarus is inscribed upon the plaque, but these are the most often quoted lines.  These words embody one of the basic principles upon which our nation was built.  This country was built by people who left everything they knew, and took a chance at a new life, and by their children who accepted this new land as their home.  These people sought opportunity.  These were the risk-takers.

Our nation was built by risk-takers.  The people in Boston that threw the tea in harbor were taking risks.  The signers of the Declaration of Independence were taking risks.  The colonists who fought the British Army were taking risks.  The Americans that left the eastern cities to head west for land or gold were taking risks.  The Rockefellers, The Carnages, Edison, Ford, the Wright Brothers, and so many others were taking risks.

And for every risk-taker that was successful, there were dozens of others who failed. Every small business owner, every farmer, every rancher, every scientist looking for the next great discovery is a risk-taker.  And for every one that is successful, dozens will fail.  Why do they do it?  They do it because we are the nation built by those who would take the risk, those who sought the opportunity to succeed, knowing that they might fail.  With success comes a better life.

It seems to me that we have now reached a point where there are those who want to remove the risks; they want an even amount of success for all.  If you succeed, they would have you share your success through higher taxes with those who failed, or worse yet, with those who never even tried.   

I do believe in charity, but I believe that it is the individual who should decide how he or she will share with the less successful.  The more the government attempts to redistribute the rewards, the less the risk an individual is apt to take.  In the past it has been the greater the risk the greater the reward.  Now it seems some would say the greater the reward the greater the burden to share with those who did not succeed.

It occurs to me that this governmental attitude is in many ways like the Medieval practice of the Catholic Church selling indulgences.   Perhaps what we need is a modern day Martin Luther.