Hello, my name is America. I am a Socialist. Whew, that was a tough thing to admit. But it’s the necessary first step of the Twelve Steps. Admit who and what you are — absolutely essential to the end of addiction and any chance of recovery. Like any addiction, it didn’t sweep noisily across my landscape like a furious hurricane. No, it crept in like the tide, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, for decades, eroding my sinew, sapping my backbone, compromising my principles. I don’t believe the majority of my citizens wanted me to be a Socialist, but they took me for granted. They didn’t see the signs and, frankly,  got soft, spoiled and sluggish of mind. They forgot what made me strong and straight, faithful and true. They put me in undeserving hands and stood by as I grew weak, dishonored and disrespected. For years I tried to resist — truly I did; but when my citizens put the Federal Government in charge of Healthcare, I reached the tipping point. I was already seriously weakened by Government encroachment into the lives of my citizens; but along came Obamacare, the final straw. I crossed the line. I am now a Socialist. There’s no way I will ever recover without The 12 Steps:

Step 1 Admit I’m powerless over  addiction without my citizens.

Step 2 Believe that my citizens can restore me to my true self.

Step 3 Believe that my citizens will make a searching and fearless moral inventory of who I was and what I accomplished since my birth.

Step 4 Believe they will make the decision to respect and honor my founding principles as clearly outlined in The Constitution.

Step 5 Admit to all citizens the exact nature of my wrongs, and be entirely ready to eliminate all defects of my current character.

Step 6 Encourage  citizens to eliminate many Federal agencies, greatly reduce the spending and size of my Central Government and nurture and fortify State’s Rights.

Step 7 Encourage  the People to protect my health by approving Congressional Term Limits.

Step 8 Encourage my citizens to take a personal inventory of all criminal and moral wrongdoing among my leaders and be willing to remove them from power.

Step 9 Beg citizens to repeal Obamacare and return healthcare to the private sector.

Step 10 Encourage  citizens to immediately eliminate the agency that greatly influenced my slide to addiction — the Department of Education.

Step 11 Tell my citizens to require that all public officials and their families live under the same rules that apply to every private citizen.

Step 12 Having had an awakening as the result of these steps, carry this message to other addicts, and practice these principles in all my affairs.

I desperately want to be positive that my people will come to their senses and help me to once again be the Capitalist that continues to uplift the lives of all people. Unfortunately, millions of my people are either oblivious or apathetic. They don’t really know me. And they certainly don’t know or understand that my Freedom is the most fragile of all conditions. I am America. Please know me. Please value me.