What Are You Celebrating This 4th of July?

Job losses were worse than feared, according to the official government report out today. This news occasioned a 223-point sell-off on the Dow, the worst one day drop since April, and comes on top of a Consumer Confidence Report that shows Americans starting to give up on President Obama's promised recovery.

Another survey I read Wednesday talked of how millionaire investors are also losing confidence in the Obama recovery, such as it ain't, and are looking for safer harbors for their investment bucks.

To anyone who questions why the economic news is so glum, it is necessary to say this: What did you expect? Nearly a half million more people are out of work, and the House of Representatives has just passed legislation that is feared by a majority of the American people. Even its fans admit that Cap'n Tax will raise the cost of everything (and the value of nothing) even as Congress wheeled and dealed and gave away the one thing they said they needed: actual tax revenue. The end result is the worst of both worlds. Higher prices and more deficit spending.

On the eve of the Fourth of July weekend, you really have to ask yourself: "What is it we are celebrating on this 233rd anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence?"

History has shown us that command economies do not work, and yet we have handed over the power to create one to a group of Progressives who control both houses of Congress and the White House. This is what they are doing, as rapidly as they can hustle or buy the votes.

An individual is not truly free unless he or she is able to improve their lives through their own productive toil. The acquisition of property was considered an essential element to our basic unalienable rights by the Founders. As John Adams, our second president, once said:

"The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence."

In the past six months we have witnessed the takeover of the world's largest insurer, controlling interest in several of our largest banks, and two of the three great American auto companies by the federal government. Under the leadership of progressives, Uncle Sam leveraged its way into control of these industries first by offering economic security through "bailouts" and then by demanding "a seat at the table" because of the public's "investment." Except that the public, which is you and me, didn't want to own banks, insurance firms or automobile manufacturers. And we have no say-so on the new rules and regulations that are being imposed upon these companies. We have watched with incredulous minds and gaping mouths as secured corporate bondholders have been deprived of their property without due process of law while our Supreme Court refused to intervene.

Now President Obama and the Progressives want the federal government to take over the entire American health care industry under the banner of "reform." This represents somewhere between one-fifth and one-seventh of the economy. In percentage terms that's somewhere between 14% to 20%. Their promotional efforts are heavy on emotionalism and light on specifics. In other words it's classic propaganda: get a movement going without revealing too many details of what's really going to happen.

Health care and "Cap and Trade" are part and parcel of the Progressive end game. If they get Energy and Health Care, with near total control of banking and finance, and a heavy industry like automobiles, the federal government will have nearly half of our economy in its grasp.

This will be ruinous. It will stifle innovation and competition, especially for small businesses and individuals. You simply cannot compete with a huge national government that has political protection for its "business" decisions. Other businesses will fail and, if they are deemed "necessary" by our government overseers, they will be acquired or controlled so that there is a semblance of an economy functioning. But the individual people would lose out.

In theory, We the People could elect a new Congress in 2010 or 2012, and install a president who is not a Progressive, and get the government's tentacles out of the economy.

In practicality, this would be very difficult, and painful. That is why I call this push for Health Care Reform and "Cap and Trade" the End Game.

I'm not trying to put a damper on your Fourth of July. Go ahead and have your little soiree, but remember that the freedom you yet enjoy comes to you as the bequest of your American ancestors. It must be rediscovered and protected by each new generation or else it erodes away at the hands of the Looters and the Takers. Freedom is not only defended by those in the military, although they put their lives on the line constantly for us. It is also defended by those willing to engage in the public debate, who value freedom more than their lives and their fortunes and who are willing to stake their sacred honor on passing the torch of liberty to the next generation.

The Fourth of July should mean more than a cookout, a fireworks display, or a weekend at the lake.

Especially this year.