http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123690358175013837.html

Shocked? Don’t be.

For those of you who didn’t bother to click the link above, I’ll synopsize: President Obama’s approval ratings have slipped from 65% on January 21 to 56% as of March 12, according to Rasmussen Reports. That’s a 10-point drop in two months. Ouch!

Now, I’ll ask again: Shocked? Don’t be.

There is a reason that Republicans warned America about Obama’s Carter-esque leanings during the campaign. We’ve seen this picture before: threats of nationalization, a stock market in free fall, taxes on the rise, and government promises that they can fix it all. Sure.

But, as I said, this is not new territory. In 1982—Carter just finished up his roll in the hay with Speaker O’Neil and Reagan was taking over—the unemployment rates were at approximately 10.2 percent. That’s roughly two points higher than it is now. And, prior to the 1980 election, Congress showed no signs of slowing down on the spending and accompanying tax hikes that marked Carter’s four years.

Plus, according to former Clinton advisor Dick Morris, the national deficit has reached approximately 15 percent of America’s GDP. For comparison, Japan’s national deficit never topped 10 percent during their downturn.

President Obama has proven himself good at only one thing thus far: spending our money. Most Americans are against spending projects in general, and therefore disapprove of all of the astronomical spending projects—such as the $3.6 trillion budget—that have come to symbolize the President’s agenda.

Now, realistically, 56 percent is not really something to worry about. If Obama were to change course now and to actually cut wasteful spending, as he promised to do during the campaign, he could realistically maintain solid approval ratings. But I do not see that happening.

My prediction: President Obama will continue to cater to Speaker Pelosi and her far-left cabal, and this slight dip in the polls is but mere foreshadowing of what’s to come. By the end of the year, the President’s approval ratings will be below the 45 percent mark. Possibly lower, depending on how the foreign policy situations pan out. But primarily based on economics and Democratic budgeting, the Obama administration will grind to a PR halt just as quickly as the Obamamania hype began. 

It is NOT the government's job to guarantee that you have a job, healthcare, food, money, or housing. Rather, the government exists solely to keep you safe while you provide all of those things for yourself. In other words: the government’s job is to ensure an environment where anyone—from any economic background, of any color, of either gender, adhering to any creed, and holding any set of values—can fight for themselves without fear of hindrance or molestation.

I take the time to say this because, according to a new Fox News / Opinion Dynamics Poll:

• ·      68% of Americans think that it is the government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have food.
• ·      66% think that it is the government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have health care.
• ·      52% think that government has a duty to provide housing to all Americans.
• ·      51 % think that government has a duty to provide jobs to all Americans who want one.

Those numbers scare the living daylights out of me. And they should scare any given capitalist, as well.

Look at history; look at facts. Every time that a government has decided to try to “provide” something to its people, it has failed. There’s a reason that, save for China and Cuba, the world has sworn off communism. It doesn’t work. Look at the Soviet healthcare system: you’ve all seen it because it’s two aspirin. That’s all that the great “medicine for all, paid for by all” could afford. News alert to President Obama: “Spreading the wealth around” does not work.

Yes, I will concede that, in capitalism, some people must, from time to time, fail. Capitalism involves risk and effort. But there are two sides of the coin: if you must own your failures in full, then you also get to own your successes in full. It is those successes that America was built upon.

To quote President Washington, “Like fire, government is a dangerous servant and a fearsome master.” If we start asking government to do things for us instead of us doing things for ourselves, then the government will ask something in return: funding.

To remind my readers: government is bankrupt. It’s true; the government has never spent a single dollar that it already had. Rather, that trillion-dollar spending bill that just plowed through congress will be funded by you through new, higher, and ever more ridiculous taxes. And, as much as it sounds like universal healthcare is a warm, compassionate thing for government to do; it is really a cold and foolhardy concept that calls for the government to play the role of Robin Hood, taking from everybody and redistributing money where government deems it more appropriate.

This also means that that “top 2%” that the President keeps saying will be getting a tax hike includes 85% of small business owners—anyone earning over $250,000. I hate to break this to you, Mr. President, but even if you raised their taxes from 35% to 100% (no, that’s not a typo), the government would still not have enough money to pay for your ludicrous spending projects.

Here’s the bottom line: government cannot give something to one person without stealing something from somebody else. Expecting government to provide for your family’s needs is not just illogical; it’s lazy and irrational. It is your job to provide for yourself and your family, nobody else’s. Government needs to step aside and get out of your way.

If Americans want to remain a free nation, then Americans need to shake this asinine sense of entitlement that has pervaded our collective psyche. Ours is a nation of the self-reliant. Let’s start acting like it.