Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Every February, we celebrate a great minority of Americans. We recall their travels from slavery to freedom and educate ourselves about the heroes and heroines of that epic struggle. It is a good exercise for all Americans. I was a child in a segregated South, but clearly recall the injustices dealt so many good people. It’s been a bumpy path from Reconstruction through Jim Crow and separate-but-equal eras for the descendants of African slaves. However, their idealism noted in our founding documents has become a reality for all citizens willing to accept the responsibilities of citizenship.

As our nation painfully shed this physical variety of slavery, has it been cleverly replaced by a new form of bondage? This new slavery is a total dependence by individuals and families on government for the materials and funds necessary to maintain a minimum standard of living. This isn’t Social Security, veterans’ benefits, government retirements or...