Creeping Socialism won’t kill freedom in America. Muslim extremism won’t do it, either.

The coroners of history will list liberty’s cause of death as “a sense of entitlement.”

America’s lifeblood of economic success — a strong work ethic combined with unbridled ingenuity — was contaminated decades ago by a terrible disease of well-intentioned laws. The source of infection can be traced to President Lyndon Johnson.

The “unconditional war on poverty in America” that Johnson declared in 1964 has been an unconditional failure. According to Texas A&M; economist Edgar K. Browning, taxpayers — through local, state and federal programs — are still investing more than $1 trillion annually in a fight that is unwinnable without employing a strategy of self-reliance.

One reason the fight is so difficult is that we have allowed the definition of poverty to change over the years. There are plenty of folks alive today who walked to school barefooted or wore a dress made from a flour sack. Now they were poor, and they didn’t benefit from “free” school lunches or a “minimum” wage.

Today, there are lots of people with refrigerators filled with beer and ashtrays loaded with cigarette butts who ask churches to assist them with their rent payments. A local preacher told me of such cases during a conversation on Friday.

The preacher also mentioned a man who refused to accept a job because it only paid a few dollars per week more than he received in unemployment benefits. Therein lies one of the reasons for America’s current economic mess.

A lack of initiative enslaves people to government assistance. Their chains of dependence prevent them from reaching their potential and adversely impact those who end up paying their way through life.

And to make matters worse, someone too sorry to turn in an honest day’s work is certainly too sorry to fulfill parental responsibilities. This leaves unfortunate children to go through life without the kind of supervision that would go a long way toward ensuring their success, especially educationally

Admittedly, everyone doesn’t start the race of life in the same place. All Americans, however, can finish it successfully if they apply themselves. Poverty is not embedded in anyone’s DNA.

The government’s only role in the race of life should be to make sure everyone has an equal chance to participate. It shouldn’t try to guarantee that everyone wins. That is too costly and unfair to those who prepared for the challenge. Life’s spoils, or luxuries, should go to the victors of the race, not those who are content to be carried along the way.

It is my belief that the government should assist people during these tough times, especially the elderly, veterans and those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Hopefully, however, our leaders will take this opportunity to reassess what the role of government will be in the future. At some point, the crutches have got to be kicked out from under those who are fully capable of standing on their own.

Rewarding the destructive behavior of individuals can destroy the nation as a whole. Our future depends on breathing life into the old-fashioned values of hard work and determination. Resuscitating the sense of entitlement that has become so pervasive will surely kill the freedoms Americans have enjoyed for generations.