Where has Joe the Plumber's spirit gone?

I was reading an interesting article this morning on WJS from Daniel Henninger titled "America needs its Frontier Spirit" and it got me to thinking about Joe the Plumber.

There was a time when we, as Americans, loved to work for a living. We believed in the American dream. We knew that if we worked hard enough we would be able to carve out a tiny piece of America that would be our own. A little piece of land where you could raise a family, start a business or even farm or garden, that not even the government could take from us.

With this past election cycle, we can clearly see America is not about the American dream, it is about a bailout. Everyone, from businesses to individuals want to be bailed out.

Clearly the Joe the Plumber spirit of wanting to carve out your own destiny has taken a hit. Joe the Plumber wanting nothing more out of life than to carve out his own destiny and embrace the American dream.

This election came down to whether or not America would once again embrace it's heritage of working hard and bailing ourselves out or hand over our American dream to the government and let them bail us out.

In this election, big government Barack Obama beat Joe the Plumber and his American dream.

Americans are currently willing to hand over their dreams to Barack Obama and his cohorts on Capital Hill.

America clearly stated "Bail Me Out"! Americans decided to give up their freedom and their American dream and take the easy way out.

Yes, whether or not Americans realize it, they will have to give up many of their freedoms in order to allow the government to bail them out.


As discouraging as that might be to many of us, all hope is not lost.

I do not believe the American dream is dead. Sure, it has been quieted for a while, but we have been here before.

In the late 1970's we stood exactly where we stand right now. We had an economy that was caving. High unemployment, a discouraged military and threats coming at us from every direction.

It took us four years to learn our lesson that Jimmy Carter's big government solutions were no solution at all. Giving government power and handing over our American dreams to have them do as they wish got us nowhere.

Then one man stood up and said, not me- you cannot steal my spirit. His name was Ronald Reagan. It was once again okay to embrace the American spirit. You no longer had to be ashamed to call yourself an American.

Joe the Plumber's spirit of individuality, determination and hard work will rise again. I believe it, just like Ronald Reagan believed it.

I am not sure of who that person is that will step forward and embrace the American dream again and lead us out of this mess. But that day is coming, whether or not it is in 4 years or in 8 years.

Even though Barack Obama has not been sworn in yet, I know for a fact that we will be replacing him in a few short years. Let's replace him with a true American believer and dreamer.

In the meantime, we must fight the bailout mentality and start that fight right now.

Joe the Plumber will rise again.