Think About the Grandkids…
Columnist Ron Hart writes a great letter to his future grandkids:
The people of my generation were selfish and were appropriately dubbed the "Me Generation." We fought no wars, we built up the citizenry's dependence on government, and we spent money on ourselves for which we will leave you the tab.
For that, I am eternally apologetic.I did my part to avoid this by working hard, paying taxes, and never asking the government for anything but to leave me alone. And I wrote a column that tried to educate people on the power of capitalism, minimal government, and prudent fiscal policies. It took our country 230 years to rack up $7 trillion in debt, and only two presidencies to increase that debt by 50 percent….
Our leaders bought votes by borrowing the money, which by your coming of age will either bankrupt the country or burden your generation with so much debt that government cannot provide the basic services such as roads and national defense. We squandered $1 trillion and our national credibility on a poorly thought out war in Iraq.
We were attacked in 2001 by religious zealots who envied our economy and our freedoms. Our leaders responded by restricting those freedoms and nationalizing more of our economy. Our government's response to the attack was to create the TSA (we called it "Thousands Standing Around"), which hurt our economy and humiliated us when we flew on airplanes by making us take our shoes off and forcing 65-year-old ladies to dispose of three ounces of shampoo….
I wish we could have left you a more sane, solvent and reasoned country.
A few of us tried.