Caroline Ward

We the Students
Since you were born, has America moved closer to or further away from the ideals outlined in the
Declaration of Independence?
In recent years, many of us have begun to be discouraged by our government, with all of the
new changes to the Healthcare system, gun policies, etc. In has left a debt larger than any weve seen
before, and causes us to owe thousands of dollars to the government from the moment that were born.
It is more than an inconvenience to those that actually work for their living and arent on welfare, and
something must be done about it. I believe that the government is straying for our ideals in the
Declaration of Independence, and that we need to take action against our morals being revoked.
In the Declaration, It states that all men are created equal, and entitled to Life, Liberty, and the
Pursuit of Happiness. But this doesnt necessarily mean that we should be taking from others without
our consent. Those of the workforce are being taken from by the government to support those on
welfare, which makes sense if you are physically disabled or inept to provide labor, but many can and
claim illnesses that dont necessarily inhibit one from working, and have just become, to put it simply,
lazy. The government taxes us extra, more or less depending on how much ones annual salary is, to
accommodate those on welfare, and those that arent pulling their weight when they physically can are
being paid for by us without reimbursement. For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent, is
included in our bill of rights, and these actions are clearly not by all of the peoples consent.
About a year ago, the government tried to take away our right to bear arms, listed in the
Second Amendment, which, luckily for us, did not take action. This is straying severely from what our
founding fathers wanted for our country, and by taking away our original amendments the government
is violating the Declaration. In my opinion, it shouldnt be tolerated by the American people, and we
need to take a stand against what the government is doing to try and change our ideals.

Americans who havent already realized that the government is trying to manipulate the
Declaration to meet their needs need to answer the wakeup call. The words on which our country is
founded are not being taken into account in all aspects anymore, and we need to do something about it.
But the question still remains, will our country ever return to what our founding fathers wanted it to be?
Probably not, but we sure can try to make it so to the best of our ability.