EQUAL WITH LIFE, LIBERTY, HAPPINESS, AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

I was over at Political Pistachio where the subject was the racial idiocy perpetrated by the left over the comments of Shirley Sherrod.

Something blogger, Douglas V. Gibbs wrote attracted my attention.

He wrote: "True freedom is having opportunity to go for it. And if you fail, you pull yourself up and go for it again."

That's the essence of America, and her greatness over the years.

Opportunity.

Every person in America has the opportunity to be or do whatever he or she wants to be or do if, and only if, he or she is willing to do what it takes to achieve whatever it is he or she wants to do.

Our liberal "friend," XO, commented: "I believe that people who cling to the ridiculous idea that there is a huge population of lazy, unambitious (possibly in the coutry illegaly) people whose only goal is to sit around benefitting from the hard work of others are delusional."

Well, he's wrong. (Notwithstanding that his spelling lacks some polishing...that was a cut-and-paste).

I went to grammar school on the U.S. Army base at Fountainbleau, France, where my father was stationed at the time.

Our school was integrated...long before schools in the USA were. (This was in the early 50s).

We had "African-Americans," Asians, Hispanics, Christians, Jews, kids of enlisted personnel and officers' kids all in the same classrooms...we simply didn't know any different.

When the teacher taught us that the square root of 16 is 4, every child in the room had the exact same opportunity to learn that truth...every one.

Some chose not to learn, but most learned the lesson well.

All of them went on to high school, some graduated, some did not. It was their choice to study or not to study that made the difference.

But every one of them had the opportunity to study, learn and graduate. Every one.

Some then went on to get jobs, some low paying, some high paying. Others chose not to work, but went on to avail themselves of the "public dole."

There were some who went on to college, some who went directly into the work force and some who did neither.

Some contributed to the advancement of society while others leeched off of it.

Stand around at a parking lot at the local U-Save supermarket located in a poor area of town, pay attention to the people around you and see how many can't formulate a coherent sentence, check the price of their groceries or find something productive to do that day.

I submit that XO is dead wrong. He seems to think that of those who are on the "public dole," are all there because they have "lost life's lottery" and did not have the same opportunities that others had.

That's wrong.

Except for the disabled, mentally and/or physically, there is no excuse for a person in the U.S. to be without adequate food, shelter and clothing on the strength of their own merit and willingness to apply themselves.

Is there racism making it difficult for some?

Yep.

But Oprah, for instance, overcame racism. She worked through it and made a success of herself. (Those exploited by Maury Povich, on the other hand, represent the dregs of society; always fighting, bringing each other down and otherwise demonstrating the wrong way to go about life).

Oprah took advantage of the opportunities offered her by America. Good for her.

She was not the winner of life's lottery, she worked hard, pushed ahead with her dream and made it to the top.

I don't like much of what Oprah stands for, but I am thrilled that she demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that anybody who wants to can make it big in America.

I'm also thrilled by the achievements of Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell, Condoleezza Rice, and other "African-Americans" who have worked through the system to succeed.

When liberals like XO try to convince us that the majority of people receiving benefits from the government are helpless to help themselves, they are displaying a form of ignorance from which there is no escape, and which forms the foundation of what will be the demise of America.

We should be structuring our society such that opportunities to better oneself improve, through education and hard work, not providing opportunities for people to become dependent on the government for their sustenance.

I agree with XO that we are the greatest country on earth. I do not agree that our greatness is measured in any way by whether we work in order to provide others with "free government induced health care," etc.

We are great because we provide opportunity for anybody, even those on welfare, who are able, to get off of welfare and learn to feel good about themselves because they have become educated and willing to work hard to succeed.

We need to teach them how to do that so they, too, can taste of the American Dream.

The American dream is not a house for every American, it is the opportunity to work hard to afford a house, if a house is what you want.

We are a land of life, liberty, the persuit of happiness, justice for all and, most of all, opportunity.