From Lee Bailey's "The Immaculate Perception?", Fall '95 From Lee Bailey's "The Immaculate Perception?", Fall '95Famed American novelist J.D. Salinger tells his readers of the dreams of his protagonist, Holden Caulfield. Holden imagines himself atop a mountain, in a field of rye in which children cavort and play. Worried for their safety, Holden imposes upon himself an obligation -- he mustn't let them fall into the adjacent chasm in their frolic. He becomes a catcher in the rye. More than just an anecdote, citizens of the United States ought to appreciate this tale, for they have tacitly and subconsciously witnessed their reduction to infant status, and have hired a babysitter, their government. While it is true that America remains a bastion of many freedoms in a world suffering tumult and change, it is also undeniable that Americans have surrendered many rights to a growing Federal government, facilitated all the more by a populace increasingly ignorant of what it is entitled to.From Lee Bailey's "The Immaculate Perception?", Fall '95Famed American novelist J.D. Salinger tells his readers of the dreams of his protagonist, Holden Caulfield. Holden imagines himself atop a mountain, in a field of rye in which children cavort and play. Worried for their safety, Holden imposes upon himself an obligation -- he mustn't let them fall into the adjacent chasm in their frolic. He becomes a catcher in the rye. More than just an anecdote, citizens of the United States ought to appreciate this tale, for they have tacitly and subconsciously witnessed their reduction to infant status, and have hired a babysitter, their government. While it is true that America remains a bastion of many freedoms in a world suffering tumult and change, it is also undeniable that Americans have surrendered many rights to a growing Federal government, facilitated all the more by a populace increasingly ignorant of what it is entitled to.One might begin with the language used to describe American freedoms in the modern day. The word "right" has become a tool, used by many a politician to make more palatable their pork-wrought propositions and truly un-American social programs. In recent decades the American electorate has been bombarded with newly-synthesized "rights," such as the "right" to health care, the "right" to work, and many others. This word, formerly reserved for the cherished and unique claims made by citizens on their government, has now been prostituted as a mere sound byte by ambitious politicians, from one end of the spectrum to the other. Perhaps it would be helpful to examine just a few manifestations of this plague. For example, Americans have a right to property -- their own property. It seems as though many have confused this right with the horribly unjust claims made by the welfare system. The government, using tax collection as its weapon, has extracted fortunes from hard-working Americans. These funds have been given to the indigent, many of whom still languish in a world of food stamps and AFDC, coddled by their public policy parents. Indeed, it seems as though the modern welfare system, which was meant by its originators to elevate the impoverished, has done nothing but sap the potential of those it was meant to assist. This is equivalent to Holden Caulfield seizing the playing child by the scruff of the neck and punting him over the edge. The analogy is doubly applicable. On the one hand, productive Americans have been robbed of reward and therefore incentive, while the poor and disadvantaged have been indulged to the point of pathetic dependency. In response, many might suggest that the alternative is a vastly bipolar society, one in which the rich are happy and the poor miserable. However, the compassionate American must remember this: if he cares about the underprivileged, and many do, then he should help them. He should force his neighbor to do so. To abuse majority power in order to overpower the reticent to give up their right to property is to start Americans on a slippery slope of rights deterioration, as has been witnessed for much of this century. Indeed, the Golden Rule ought apply: Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You. This maxim does not include coercion. It seems that Americans have forgotten just how powerful private charity and philanthropy can be when unimpeded by the yolk of excessive taxation and forced income redistribution. And so the lamentable saga of American freedom continues. Abused and ignored by its prodigal possessors, liberty in the United States lies battered in the gutter, a deposed idea quickly sliding down a slippery slope. Even more saddening is the fact that only within the past forty years have all Americans attained true justice -- a legitimate recognition and protection of their rights. Almost as soon as success was theirs, though, Americans started themselves upon a path of self-destruction, jumping on a bandwagon of social programs and government empowerment as a vehicle. Some ask what the hue and cry is about -- it's not as though the government is completely authoritarian and there are no rights at all. It is true that we enjoy many freedoms and a somewhat comfortable lifestyle today, but if what we have is so ideal, one can only imagine what America would be like if its rights were rejuvenated to their full status. America needs true justice. In 1850, French intellectual Frederic Bastiat wrote, "The law is justice -- simple and clear. Every eye can see it and every mind can grasp it; for justice is measurable, immutable, and unchangeable." As wonderful as that may be, it is not true in the United States. Americans have forgotten rights and justice, and must reinstate them before it is too late. Americans must free themselves of big government, a well-intentioned but tragically inept overseer -- a monstrous Catcher in the Rye.
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