Safeguarding Our Heritage

At the Thanksgiving dinner table we sat back, sated with turkey and all the fixins’. And as is our custom, we began reminiscing of times gone by, family members who have passed on, and others we’ve not seen for a time.

The discussion around the dinner table this year was no different. Over coffee and pie, we talked of old times, fond memories, laughter, wistfulness, future prospects, and hope mingled with thanks for our blessings, past, present and future.

The conversation turned to news of an elderly relative, a self-made man whose manner and behavior had changed markedly over the past few years. Now well into his years, this man had always been a rugged sort, a man of the earth who made a living by the sweat of his brow and the brawn of his muscle, tending his large farm and considerable holdings. His thriftiness is legendary among relatives and friends who joke that he still has his first dollar. He worked long hours from sun-up to sundown, so his financial conservatism was understandable and in many ways laudable.

He remains on the farm and today still maintains his independence, managing his land as well as the fruit of his lifelong labors — a sizeable portfolio accrued from decades of hard work, savings, and sensible investments.

Yet in the past few years, family members closest to him have noticed a change in him, something uncharacteristic of a man who was loathe to part with a dime unless it was for a necessary and sensible purpose. He had survived through many hard times — the Great Depression, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the gas crisis and recession of the Carter years, and was especially careful with every dollar earned. So when it came to their attention that he was spending huge sums to pay off loans for some folks, buying automobiles for others, as well as other extraordinary expenditures, the family became concerned. They agreed that giving unto others was an admirable quality and that he had every right to disperse his fortune in whatever way he saw fit. But what concerned them were the sums he was spending. They grew alarmed that he might squander his hard-earned nest egg on frivolities and folks who didn’t deserve or warrant the benefit of his charity. And they were distressed that his spending of an exorbitant amount of money would lead him into bankruptcy.

Some family members who had worked the farm with our great-uncle, helping him grow it and tend it, also worried there might be little to be passed on to succeeding generations, especially those seated at the children’s table this Thanksgiving. So they convened a family meeting where it was suggested that our dear great-uncle, though still healthy and strong despite his advanced age, might be growing senile and incompetent in the conduct of his affairs. They decided to have him evaluated, understanding that if a judge rules him no longer competent to manage his affairs, steps will be taken through appropriate means to safeguard his assets and oversee his spending.

The competency hearing is scheduled for election day, November 2nd, 2010. Because you see, our uncle is your uncle too. His name is Sam. Uncle Sam. And not only our family, but millions more like ours across the country are concerned that Uncle Sam is no longer competent to conduct the affairs of this great nation. And the voters — the American family — will take charge of Uncle Sam and oversee his financial dealings because he is squandering our nation’s treasure to such an extent there soon will no longer be the American spirit, a legacy of the American dream to pass on from our founding fathers to posterity — our children and grandchildren.

We will be vigilant. We will conduct a follow-up evaluation of Uncle Sam in 2012.

To us lies the responsibility to safeguard the fortune of freedom for which “Uncle Sam” and so many Americans fought and died. To us has been given the duty to keep alive the promise of liberty given to us by previous generations for those who follow.

Ronald Reagan reminded us that freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.

As a family protects and safeguards its heritage for posterity so shall we, beginning on November 2, 2010. Our founders gave it all — their lives, their treasure, their sacred honor. We can do no less.