Her name is Mary. She was born in the Midwest and grew up on a dairy farm with her father, mother and six siblings. Mary didn't attend Head start or kindergarten; she took her chances and went right for first grade. Her father had a night job in addition to working the farm so he could provide health insurance for his family. Mary's father didn't believe in government handouts, he believed in hard work. Mary and her siblings worked very hard on the farm every day milking cows (by hand), bailing hay and working the fields. Thankfully at that time, the government stayed out of peoples business and allowed farm kids to work the farm without being categorized as victims. This in turn allowed family farms to thrive as well as teaching children a core American value, hard work.

Mary knew as a child that she wanted to pursue higher education; unfortunately, her parents would not be able to help her achieve that goal. Raising seven children and managing the farm took all of their resources and there was nothing left for Mary to attend college. Thankfully for Mary, her parents instilled in her the notion that with hard work and determination she could do it herself. So at age 18 Mary left home and got a job, her dedication and work ethic did not go unnoticed and in just a few short months she was promoted. The money wasn't great, but she was able to pay the bills and she was also provided with health insurance. Oddly enough, it would never have occurred to Mary that someone else should pay for her health care or anything else she deemed important with regards to her health. It was her body after all; she wanted to be responsible for it.

Mary applied to college and was accepted, but it was very expensive so she did the only thing she could, she took two additional jobs to pay for it. It took Mary several years to put herself through college as she worked her other jobs, but she managed to complete her degree. When it came time to look for a better paying job she relied on her own judgment to determine whether or not the pay was fair, she didn't look to the government to dictate what was fair, actually Mary didn't care how much money other people were making, she cared what she was making and whether or not it was a figure she could live with.

Mary worked hard, sacrificed and managed to buy a house in hopes that it would increase in value as she got closer to retirement, I mean owning a home is part of the American dream. Mary saw the value of her dream plummet, mainly because of a liberal and irresponsible government that has no ethics and no concept of a budget. Mary always had to budget, why doesn't the government? Mary saw the value of her home continue to decline but she kept making the payment because that was the responsible thing to do. She saw many others around her stop making their house payments yet they were able to stay in their homes. How was that possible she wondered?  There were those that told her to stop making her payment, after all the government would pay for it the end.  As Mary looks out though, she knows that isn't true, the American people pay for it in the end.  We pay for it by losing our freedom and security and by losing a great nation that we all helped build.  Mary is older now and as she looks around she doesn't recognize the America she grew up in, she sees far too many people ready to submit to a socialist ideology. Where the government dictates what we eat, what we drink, where we live, what we drive and even what we think.  As we get close to Independence Day, Mary would like everyone to remember what it means to be free.