I'll Stay "Trapped", Thank You

I have decided to return to my indentured servitude here at the radio station for another day.  I really had to think about it after White House Spokesman Jay Carney informed us last week that the Affordable Care Act provides "an added choice that they have that allows them more freedom, to use a certain buzzword, more choice" not to work.  Carney then doubled down on that assertion with "Opportunity created by affordable, quality health insurance allows families in America to make a decision about how they will work, or if they will work"

It's nice to know that the official mouthpiece for the Obama Administration considers the founding principal of this country--freedom--to be a "buzzword".  I often think of exercising one's rights as spelled out in the Constitution in the same context as "shifting paradigms" and "twerking".  As one Twitter user put it in channeling their inner Braveheart:  "They can take our lives, but they will never take our BUZZWORDS!"

But let's take a look at the new "free" lives that those who choose to cut back on their personal income just so they can protect their taxpayer-funded Medicaid coverage--or their taxpayer-funded credit toward the purchase of an insurance policy through the federal or state exchange--will be living.  There will always be that reliance on Federal housing assistance to stay in the apartment or rental unit where they currently live--the "American Dream" of home-ownership being quashed by the need to retain eligibility for the "safety net".  Trips to the grocery store will also be dependent on how much is left on the Quest card from the Food Stamps program.  Child care will only be available through government subsidies.  Retirement will only become an option at age 65--when two more government programs--Social Security and Medicare make it possible (at least until the eligibility age is increase even more because of huge structural deficits in both programs). 

It's amazing how much of this "freedom" entails reliance on Uncle Sam to open up his wallet.  When you think about it, to even call it an "opportunity" is way off base--like saying a marionette has an "opportunity" to cut the strings and walk across the stage itself. 

So it's back to work for those of us who are apparently passing on exercising this new "freedom" that President Obama and his allies have bestowed upon us--as we foolishly earn enough money to choose not to work when we can finally afford it on our own.