Freedom means you have the ability to fail all by yourself and then turn around and start all over again. Freedom is not the government giving you money. Its not the $4500 cash for clunker program or the welfare system. It’s not the free scooter or cell phone program. Freedom is the ability to go out and make your own way. The ability to go out and get the job you really want or to start the business you really are interested in. The fact that you might fail is just as much a part of freedom as being successful! 

     If you were born with normal cognizant mental faculties, you have the ability to pursue a good life, liberty, and happiness in the United States of America. However, lately our government has piled on much more on the backs of small business, which is the foundation of our democracy. 

     If this trend by the current president and congress continues in the same direction, an economic disaster will soon come.  So far we have been saved by a series of so called stimulus packages in an attempt to ward off huge bank failures and the complete collapse of other industries such as automotive and investment. That whole thing is no different than my next door neighbor losing his job and me loaning him enough money to pay his mortgage for a couple of months. Eventually my generosity will run out and he will default on his mortgage. He would have to change the way he operates and budgets.  He would have to find a new job. And just maybe that house was a bit of a stretch for him and his family in the first place. The bottom line is; America should be treated as no different than any responsible family’s budget.

     I want all Americans to have their share of opportunity, but on the same playing field. To bale out a car company with billions and billions of our dollars was irresponsible. When Toyota can build a great car, sometimes a better car, while paying an avarage of $48 per hour to it’s workers, including benefits and retirement, how can GM justify paying an avearge of $73 to American workers? What happened to freedom? What happened to the freedom to fail and then pull yourself up and start all over again? How can GM emerge from bankruptcy still paying $73 per hour to workers and be competitive?