The question this week will force each and everyone to look inside ourselves and determine where we want our future of our society to go. In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment was passed allowing Congress to put in place an income tax on the top wage earners of our society; the top 1%. Today, this tax applies to 90% of our wage earners and can go up to 39% of your income, depending on your bracket. Social Security, established in 1935, www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html , was develop solely for the elderly, now has developed multiple areas of responsibility. Social Security also has been determine to have a future liability shortfall of funding around $13.6 trillion. Medicare parts A and B, will have a shortfall of $68 trillion. Now with the new Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act in 203, part D, additional unfunded liabilities will be $17.2 trillion. Today we have the National Health Care issue being debated in Congress to provide health care for all individuals who may not want to pay for it, but will be paid for by working men and women.

The point is, under our Founding Fathers system, based on Adam Smith's economic theory of a free market system, when an individual works, that person earns a profit from his resource, labor. Then with their profits, the person is able to purchase what they need for life. When the government taxes an individual, they are removing that person's property in order to do what we, as a society, has determine we need. When the masses, a pure democracy, prevails, the fears of our Founding Fathers will come true; the fears that government's power will be used to punish those who are successful. More and more personal property will be taken, profits from our work, to be use not only for programs we need, but now for programs we do not want.

In your opinion, with justifications, has our society moved beyond the original intent of the Founding Fathers in allowing government to control our day to day lives or should our government continue to developing into the "Nanny State", taking care of individuals from cradle to grave.