Collectivism is bad

After all the controversy leading up to Mr. President's back-to-school address to the nation's children, it seems to have gone off without too much in the way of government indoctrination. That's good.

Whats not as good is the subtle tones that were running through the entire thing, which someone like you, or me, or Jacob Sullum might pick-up on, but I'm guessing the majority of third graders probably didn't realize they were hearing. Sullum says:

"...the worst thing about President's Obama's speech...is the creepy collectivism implied by sentences like these:

If you quit on school, you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country....

Don't ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America [is] about people...who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best...

What will a President who comes here in 20 or 50 or 100 years say about what all of you did for this country?...

I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down. Don't let your family down or your country down."

By now it should be pretty apparent that the President (or, more accurately, his speech-writers, publicists, and all the rest of those in charge of grooming his public appearance) sees himself as the new JFK. It's even more obvious when he makes statements like these, an attempt to echo the celebrated collectivist slogan of "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country".

As a side note, how about me and my country don't ask each other those questions at all. The country should go on doing the things it must do (and only those things), like protecting my rights from foreign attackers and keeping a basic rule-of-law, and it should do those things with as little interference in my life as possible. In return, I will go about my daily life without disrupting the state's work, and I won't ask it to help me out with anything I should be able to take care of personally. Deal?

The whole idea of these collectivist statements is to get people to put something else ahead of their own lives. Such statements become even more dangerous when the "collective" includes not only everyone who is here today, but everyone who might be here in the future too.

When Obama asks what Presidents in the future will say about what this generation did for its country, what he is really saying is that we should subjugate our own lives in the name of making the future a better place. Never mind the fact that this idea, wonderful, peaceful, and successful future is hardly a guarantee (and never mind the fact that you'll be dead before you get to enjoy it, even if it were to happen someday).

Of course, the bigger irony is that Obama, like most politicians, wants people to do only what they are told. So the answer Obama is looking for to that question is that Presidents in the future will say this generation did exactly as they were instructed to do by their wise governmental masters.

Living your life in the name of some unknown future seems foolish at best and downright dangerous at worst. It gets closer to being dangerous when the government is the one inventing the imagined future state, and telling you what you can do to make it possible.