Today’s America built on dependence, not independence

Thomas L. Knapp

Submitted photo/Avens O’Brien

The average American is born in a government-regulated hospital, issued a government birth certificate, assigned a government identification number, shipped off as early as possible to government-regulated schools, graciously allowed by government to work in government-regulated businesses (if his or her government papers are found to be in order), retires on a government pension and is eventually buried or cremated in accordance with government regulations. And, of course, every Fourth of July, he or she dutifully waves a piece of cloth representing that government, cries tears of gratitude for the brave government employees who defend his or her “freedom,” and perhaps — if, and only if, the government allows it — enjoys some fireworks.”

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OPINION — When the Continental Congress adopted its “Declaration of Independence,” officially published on July 4, 1776, there were reasons laid out in detail in that declaration.

King George III, according to the founders of the United States of America, obstructed immigration.

He kept standing armies in times of peace.

He sent out “swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”

He restricted foreign trade.

He imposed taxes without their consent.

And so on, and so forth.

And by golly, when a government became destructive of the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — as the King of England had — the people had a right to “alter or abolish it.”

Fast-forward 250 years. The current United States government obstructs immigration, keeps standing armies in times of peace, employs more and more meddlesome bureaucrats than George III might have ever dreamed possible, restricts foreign trade and imposes an average tax burden about 16 times as large as the one the American colonists moaned about.

The colonists declared independence from Britain.

Today’s America is built on a very different proposition, best summarized by Benito Mussolini in the early 20th century, to define his philosophy of fascism: “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.”

Today’s America is built on dependence, not independence.

The average American is born in a government-regulated hospital, issued a government birth certificate, assigned a government identification number, shipped off as early as possible to government-regulated schools, graciously allowed by government to work in government-regulated businesses (if his or her government papers are found to be in order), retires on a government pension and is eventually buried or cremated in accordance with government regulations.

And, of course, every Fourth of July, he or she dutifully waves a piece of cloth representing that government, cries tears of gratitude for the brave government employees who defend his or her “freedom,” and perhaps — if, and only if, the government allows it — enjoys some fireworks.

I used to find the differences between the Declaration and modern reality horrifying enough to title my Independence Day columns “Mourn on the Fourth of July.”

That horror, however, has faded to boredom over time.  America today feels a lot like the pictures of those gray old Soviet housing blocs — brutalist in architecture and only semi-functional in  construction — and I’ve reached a new stage: “Meh on the Fourth of July.”

Enjoy your holiday weekend, fellow serfs.

Thomas L. Knapp is a director and senior news analyst at The William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism, where this was first published.  Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.