After listening to the Democrat debate the other night it was obvious that the country's founding principles were being challenged in a fundamental way. The Democrat presidential candidates were falling over one another to see who could give away more stuff.

On its face when you hear a candidate pledge to provide free college tuition, health care and a minimum wage of $15 an hour the less informed will enthusiastically agree.To those audience members who cheered wildly at the concept of all those freebies, I would like to ask if they are aware of the fragility of an economy that has $20 trillion in debt. President Obama met with the Democrat caucus before the health insurance debate and asked them why they became Democrats instead of Republicans.His rhetorical answer was "that you believe in helping the less fortunate and not leaving them on their own." While this statement seems like a noble one, you have to examine who is helping who and who is really getting hurt.The simple truth is along with freedom comes responsibility. When the USSR collapsed and Russia tried its hand at capitalism, they had a very difficult time. Why? For 70 years the good citizens of the Soviet Union were told, as a society, that they had a right to housing, jobs, security, health care and food.That means the government had to provide all these things because it was a right. The society became lethargic and nonproductive. There was no sense of urgency, and when faced with having the freedom to make decisions on their own the people were paralyzed. There was no charitable giving from the people of the old Soviet Union because they were taught the state would take care of all that. Along with ruining the productive fabric that is born in every one of us, the Soviets also did not tolerate the belief in God or any form of worship, other than the state of course. To control their population they had to close the borders, not from people coming in but from people leaving. So the elements of a communist system is one of captivity, atheism and a trust that the government will supply all.Capitalism, however, requires freedom, and belief in a power much higher than man as well as a life after death. The glue that holds the capitalist human nature from overpowering the less fortunate, like individuals who through no fault of their own are disadvantaged, is the Judeo-Christian value system that has been a part of this country since its inception.Progressives believe that human nature, like their own, will always do the wrong thing and trample on those who cannot help themselves. However, the irony in the progressive fix is that by having the government assume the role of social equalizer, they have assumed the very role that Christian teachings promote.The USA is the most giving nation on earth but not by accident. Our constitution gives us the freedom to be selfish, but our Judeo-Christian values urge us in a compassionate direction.The Obama administration fundamentally disagrees in the freedom of the benevolent. They floated a trial balloon to remove the charitable giving from this exalted status, in my opinion, to attempt to change the way Americans view their obligation to each other.Progressives believe the government should collect the money from you and they will be the keepers of the less fortunate.Unfortunately, that breeds people who truly don't care about other people because they don't have to. Their government does that for them.I always tell my children that there are two kinds of people in this world; "Producers and Users." Never become a user, because when the users outnumber the producers the end is near. Progressive have two fundamental problems. One is that they do not learn from history and the other is they don't understand human nature.Larry WittigTamaqua