February 19, 2013

If the Government Feeds You

As a reasonably-accomplished freelance writer of more than 50 published books, I was asked during a radio interview how it was possible for someone of my humble background to become successful in the literary world. I grew up the little ragged son of an Ozark Mountain sharecropper who could not even read, living in old barns, shacks, and dirt-floored former chicken houses, so poor poverty was a step up. I dreamed in those cotton fields of becoming a writer like Hemingway or Steinbeck.

I explained to the interviewer that I couldn’t have done it in today’s “compassionate” society, a society in which success is punished as “unfair” and dependency rewarded. Some government social worker would have been at my doorstep commiserating in my poverty and explaining how, since I was “disadvantaged,” I couldn’t possibly realize such a grandiose dream on my own. He would have stolen my dream by making me dependent on government “help” and therefore willing to settle for much less.

Poor that we were, my parents were proud and refused to accept handouts from government or anyone else. It would have been embarrassing, humiliating, conditions unknown to today’s “entitlement” generations. However, one year when we were especially hard up, my dad relented to accepting what he called “gimpy groceries,” government-surplus commodities. He was too proud to go down to the county barn and sign up himself. Instead, he sent me with a gunny sack to pick up cheese, beans, and whatever. I was 12-years-old and about to learn the most important lesson of my entire lifetime, unintentionally though it may have been.

I was a scrapper, a fighter. Most hillbilly kids were. While I was standing in line waiting, I must have committed some minor infraction of the rules. One of the employees rushed over and shoved me. I was ready to fight.

“Boy,” he snapped, “if the government feeds you, it’ll do what it damned well pleases.”

Charles W. Sasser has been a full-time freelance writer/journalist/photographer since 1979. He is a veteran of both the U.S. Navy (journalist) and U.S. Army (Special Forces, the Green Berets), and is retired from the military after 29 years active and reserve service. A former combat correspondent wounded in action, he also served fourteen years as a police officer (in Miami, Florida, and in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was a homicide detective).

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.