The Restore America Project

America has always been a place of opportunity. This opportunity has inspired millions to travel to the United States with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and has allowed poor, hard-working immigrants and laborers to make a living and improve the lives of others. Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie provided for his impoverished family as a boy by working six 12-hour days as a factory worker, earning only $1.20 every week. After years of hard work, Carnegie made billions in the steel industry and donated his fortune toward the construction of schools and public libraries across the United States and the United Kingdom. I could name dozens more successful individuals who have overcome poverty to achieve significant economic success. But according to our president and Democrat leaders, these people should bear the burden of “caring for” millions of government-dependent Americans who, unlike their wealthy counterparts, are not willing to put in the work and intense dedication required to achieve success.

Andrew Carnegie rose from his impoverished beginnings to make billions.

Freedom is the foundation of American society, and quite often I feel that our president forgets what freedom truly means. Freedom allows people to succeed and make money, but true freedom also allows people to fail. President Obama wishes to tax those who have achieved financial success to pay for social programs that theoretically lift the poor from their hard times. But our commander-in-chief has failed to understand that a massive safety net takes away the economic freedoms of individuals by turning these people into dependent slaves that rely upon government for everything they need. Thus, by providing these social programs, Obama and the Democrats literally incentivize poverty and maliciously crush the spirit of hard work, passion, and freedom that lives within every human being.

One of Andrew Carnegie’s students, Napoleon Hill, alluded strongly to personal purpose as the reason for success in life in his book Think and Grow Rich. Like Mr. Hill, I sincerely believe that every person who has an intense desire to work hard and improve in their line of work will obtain success, and I believe this because I see it every day in my daily life. As a student, I often see intelligent people struggling in their classes because they cannot summon the purpose and drive to study adequately for tests or to even complete crucial homework assignments on time. I also constantly see that people who care a great deal about their education complete their assignments on time, seek help if they do not understand certain topics, and focus in class.

Now imagine if President Obama became the principal at my school and instituted a new grading system based upon his social policies. Instead of every student earning a different grade, President Obama’s system would be “fair” and would average everyone’s grades together. As you might imagine, however, this system would be an utter failure. Students would slack off, assuming that the “A” students would pick up the slack, and the communal average would drop like a rock. I know that if I were in that environment, I would transfer to a different school!

Through this analogy, we can see the ineffectiveness of President Obama’s social policies. Depending on the wealthy to prop up everyone else is foolish and unethical, as those who are relying upon government for their livelihoods are not relying upon themselves, and by not relying on themselves, these people sell their souls to the government and resign themselves to lives of dependence and hardship.

The Declaration of Independence says that men are endowed with certain unalienable rights that must be protected by government, and these rights are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Why the “pursuit” of happiness instead of simply happiness? Clearly, our Founding Fathers understood that true freedom and prosperity could only come from a personal search for happiness, not a government handout.