I've given enough

I remember when, in school, we were encouraged to save our pennies. I had my own little bank book that I turned in each week with whatever deposit I could gather up. Usually, it was only a few cents, and always less than a dollar but it was a start and it was considered patriotic to do so.

I remember, again in school, when we would stand with our hands over our hearts and say the pledge of allegiance every day before class started. It was considered patriotic to do so.

I was proud to be an American Citizen and remember how hard my mother worked and studied to pass her Naturalization test that would "grant" her citizenship. It was an exclusive club that a good part of the civilized world would have been honored to have been accepted into.

I worked hard in High School, and gained some pride when I was granted a diploma for my efforts. After High School, I joined the U.S. Air Force to do my patriotic duty.

The benefits of belonging to this club were Social Security in the form of retirement income (if you paid into it), continued medical care after retirement in the form of Medicare (if you paid into it), and the full protection of the Federal Government if you ever got into trouble in the world at large.

As I entered the workforce, I was further encouraged to save my money when the government provided an incentive in the form of IRA's. I started saving again, it was the patriotic thing to do.

In the 60's, a thing called "Affirmative Action" was instituted. It took some of my rights and priveleges away to give to others because of the color of their skin (any color but white).

In the 70's, more of my rights and benefits were jeapordized when the Social Security account was opened up to many folks who had never paid into it and who were not even citizens!

In the 80's, the educational standards that I had conformed to in order to attain a High School diploma were lowered to accomodate the "No child left behind" program and those same non-citizens, thereby undermining the value of my efforts.

In the 90's, in an effort to apply the same thinking to home ownership (no homeowner left behind), the lending standards were lowered to accommodate all those same non-citizens and many of those who had not worked as I had to lift myself out of poverty and maintain good credit, thereby cheapening my efforts and good citizenship.

In the first decade of this new century, there is an all out attack on the medical benefits that were guaranteed to me so the same benefits can be "given" to all those same non-citizens and unmotivated folks who have never paid a dime into the system.

all these give-away programs have unraveled the economics of this country and devalued my retirement account, my home value, and just about everything that good citizenship and hard work had promised me from the start.

Am I disillusioned? Am I mad? Do I feel cheated? You damn right!