The 'Pursuit of Happiness' vs. the Sin of Achieving Happiness

COMMENTARY | He does it a lot. He did it again Monday. President Barack Obama once again placed a tax target on the backs of successful Americans and encouraged Congress to fire.

"I believe it's time to let the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans" to expire.

He knows it won't happen. Attacking the rich, taxing the rich, demanding that the rich "pay their fair share." It's all a distraction. Obama's ongoing call to class warfare is nothing more than a hypnotic mantra designed to distract Americans from his poor economic stewardship of their tax dollars and to sedate those who depend on those tax dollars into believing that those taxpayers are evil and deserve to be punished further for their benefit.

"Many members of the other party believe that prosperity comes from the top down," Obama said, "so that if we spend trillions more on tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, that that will somehow unleash jobs and economic growth."

"I disagree," he said. "I think they're wrong."

How easily he said the words. Like singing a lullaby to those who simply want to remain sleeping, the president spoke of "we" and the capacity to "spend trillions more on tax cuts" with such tenderness that one could easily forget that "we" is "him" and that that the "trillions more" he wants to take -- and "spend" -- were legitimately earned by -- and lawfully belong to -- someone else.

The Declaration Independence says that we have -- among our three, God-given, inalienable gifts -- the right to the "pursuit of happiness." However, in the minds of those like Obama -- who view such independence as a threat -- the achievement of happiness is a sin.

"Our prosperity has always come from an economy that's built on a strong and growing middle class -- one that can afford to buy the products that our businesses sell," he said, "a middle class that can own homes, and send their kids to college, and save enough to retire on."

The problem is, under Obama's leadership, the middle class has shrunk.

In June, the Federal Reserve said the median net worth of families plunged by 39 percent in just three years, from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010.

As a candidate in 2008, Obama had already blamed the middle income decline on the policies of George W. Bush and the Republicans. He even cited census figures showing that median income had fallen more than $2,000 during the first seven years of Bush's two terms in office.

But what about the analysis of census data by Sentier Research that showed real median household income was down $4,300 since Obama took office in January 2009?

Also since Obama assumed office, there are now more people dependent upon some form of government assistance than at any other time in our nation's history.

According to The Heritage Foundation's "2012 Index of Dependence on Government," more than 67.3 million Americans -- that's one out of every five -- now rely on the federal government for support on everything from housing, health care, and food stamps to college tuition and retirement assistance.

What's more, how can Obama say he doesn't believe "that prosperity comes from the top down," when he remains so hell-bent on only taking "prosperity" from those at "the top?" in order to spread it around?

More to the point, those 67.3 million Americans aren't being supported by the federal government. They are being supported by "the top" 10 percent of those "greedy" American income earners from whom the government already takes 71 percent of all income taxes.

Yes, the "pursuit of happiness." To Obama -- and "many members of the other party" -- Americans only have the right to "pursue" happiness. You have the right to struggle, not to achieve. To reach for happiness is your inalienable right. To obtain, to succeed, that is a moral sin.

That's the ugly secret. Obama and "many members of the other party" don't want you to succeed. They want you to be needy. Your dependency gives them power. That power gives them control. Once they have control, they know you will adjust. You will surrender.

You will become apathetic to the slow trickle of freedoms lost, accept what air they allow you to breathe and grow comfortable with your new position of drowning in your own little pool of dependency.

Over time, you will even abandon your right to pursue happiness. On that day, they will own you.