How Your Family Survives Obama’s Big Government

Self-reliance is alive and well. That’s the silver lining in last Tuesday’s election.

Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute writes, “Asked if government does too much or should do more, exit polls showed that voters said ‘too much’ by a margin of 51 percent to 44. Voters certainly seem receptive to a small-government message, at least in some respects, even when what appears to be somewhat more liberal and Democratic electorate is being polled,” (full disclosure: Becky and I are Cato Institute benefactors). If anything, self-reliance was reawakened last Tuesday.

Self-reliance is what my kids’ teachers stress at parent-teacher conferences. They tell Becky and me to let them struggle through their homework on their own. The gift they receive is personal achievement. The gift to us is tears and frustration and a lot of pushback for being mean and not helping. But they need to learn to rely on themselves for the answers to their problems.

Because sometimes there won’t be any help. Where was all the help so many needed after Hurricane Sandy?

I was speaking with a client in the midst of the storm. After the storm, she left her apartment building because she could not handle 15 flights of stairs in the dark with her two dogs—one of whom is afraid of the dark. She had no running water, couldn’t flush the toilets, and couldn’t find a hotel that would take her dogs.

What do you do with your pets in a crisis in a city? When she finally found a hotel that allowed dogs, she struggled with the anxiety of being displaced again. Her room was already reserved for the marathoners coming to New York, and she would have been evicted if the race had gone on. No one was helping her. It was self-reliance that got her through a most difficult situation, both emotionally and physically. Finally, Mayor Bloomberg realized it was madness to hold the race.

The message is loud and clear. You need to be self-reliant. Government is incapable of caring for everyone. That’s why the spirit of smaller government lives on. Personal achievement and self-preservation are not dead.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.