Michael Goodson Post-Tribune guest columnist recently wrote about Rush Limbaugh’s comments about retirement and health benefits being entitlements equivalent to being on the dole and that it is not the responsibility of corporate America to take care of its workers after they retire.

A lot of hard-working Americans would take issue with Limbaugh. They know that over the years, fringe benefits often took the place of wage hikes and were part of a compensation package. They know they earned them.

There is the trade-off working Americans took when they allowed companies to take over their health insurance. They gave up real wages in exchange for the imagined security of company provided health insurance. Someone once said, “When you exchange freedom for security, you will end up losing both.”

Wages represent freedom for many people… the freedom to buy the home of their dreams, the freedom to experience life abundantly, the freedom to give their children a better life, the freedom to make choices about their own lives. As many Americans have discovered in recent years, the freedom provided by their wages and security can evaporate almost overnight.

Goodson goes on to write…

Conservatives, starting with Ronald Reagan, didn’t believe workers earned them, either. He allowed corporations to raid “excess” retirement money from healthy programs, thus weakening them.

Companies then began underfunding retirements, until the roof caved in and thousands of workers “lost” what was once theirs. Companies that went bankrupt, in effect, stole the retirement funds before they were paid.

Enron mandated that its retirement fund invest only in Enron stock. When that company tanked, workers, who weren’t allowed to sell their stock, lost their retirements.

Yes, corporate America is stealing the freedom of hard working Americans every day in exchange for “security” that DOES NOT exist. And, it’s all done with the blessings of the U.S. government and your elected (and non-elected) representatives. Keep in mind that when your company gets the privilege of providing your health benefits package – they get in exchange a hefty tax deduction and pay less taxes on their profits. The result is that government is subsidizing corporate America.

At the end of the day, this is just another example of the incremental Socialist takeover of America. Democrat and Republican lawmakers both are on the payrolls of the Socialist lobbyists working to transfer the wealth from working Americans to the chosen few at the top of the pyramid.

None of the so-called front runners of either political party is your friend. They all have their eyes on your wallet with the plan to empty it… and they will all make America a less-free country when they’re done. I’ve heard some of them talk about “fundamental change,” but none of them define what that means. In my opinion, fundamental change means to throw all the bums out and replace them with somebody that really believes in our Constitution and is committed to running this country by that Constitution.

Wake up… rise up America! Your freedom and the freedom of your children is at stake.