On this one year anniversary of The Forgotten Man blog, it is sad to see the accelaration of the slippery slope towards fewer freedoms and less personal accountability for the citizens of the United States.  It really got started during the Great Depression when Franklin Roosevelt initiated programs that gave citizens their first taste of a free lunch.  While there is no question that some people benefitted, the unintended consequence (though some say it was intended by FDR) was the beginning of a society that began to see the government as granting rights that never before existed and were no where to be found in our Constitution.  My father who is the most honorable man I know, often reminds me of how my Grandfather was able to claw his way out of despair, build a terrific career and raise a wonderful family because of FDR's programs.  I have no doubt his account is accurate, yet I believe my Grandfather had the courage, strength and wisdom to have been successful on his own.  The problem is that so many people don't have that determination and thus government programs become a right at the expense of others.  William Graham Sumner predicted this in his 1916 essay, 15 years before the Great Depression!   

Medicare and Medicaid were next.  They have certainly helped millions of people, but at what expense?  Now health insurance has become a right , we pay 1.45% of our income to support it and it's going up to 2.35% under ObamaCare.  That doesn't count the taxes you pay into your state for similar state programs. 

Next came smoking bans, transfat bans and now banning salt in restaurants.  How and why does it happen?  This quote from Lynn Silver, assistant commissioner in the NY health department provides a clue, "It's very hard for an individual to do this on their own."   Or this nugget that the "Food and Drug Administration is considering a request that the government regulate salt content".  The bottom line is we are ceding responsibility for our actions to the government who thinks they know what is best for us.  Now we are about to be forced by the government to buy something, health insurance, even if we don't want it. 

Looking at these programs individually and it's easy to think they are good ideas.  Looked at in the entirety and you can see that our individual freedom to make our own choices and be accountable for our successes and failures is crumbling.  That is the definition of the slippery slope and The Forgotten Man is sad to see it accelerating.