Henry Nickel is a Rail Analyst for Riverside County Transportation Commission and candidate for the 63rd Assembly District.  He can be reached at info@herynickel.com.  His website can be found at:  www.henrynickel.com

Nearly every generation of Americans has faced a time in which the underlying presumptions and blessings of this great state and nation are partially stripped away if for only a time.  It is during such moments when the spirit of who we are as a nation and as individual citizens shines through, teaching us once more that nothing comes without a price.  The successors to the generation of Vietnam, rock and roll and free love are fast finding that not all things come to Americans as a birth right.   We live in a time of instant gratification, anonymous interaction, perceived rights to privileges not earned and little knowledge of just where the comforts we take for granted come from and at what cost.  Not unlike prior generations, the next is on the verge of a great awakening to the fundamental truths that have made our nation a beacon of hope to all humanity for centuries.

A new age of conservatives in the mold of those who came before and understood the underlying greatness of this state and nation are preparing to emerge in the service of their communities. We are learning that the only certainties are that if we believe we are entitled to comforts simply by being born in this blessed nation, the very blessings we enjoy are not far from disappearing all together.  Many of our generation were slowly drip fed a belief that education, health care and even a mortgage are entitlements to which we had an absolute right.  However, more of us are quickly coming to the realization of just how much of our blessed liberties have been given up in exchange for the promises of governments of men and special interests and their unending consuming hunger for ever greater authority and control.

Today our state is facing more than bankruptcy.  We have allowed the great promise of the Golden State to be squandered by seemingly good intentioned but disastrous policies.  California is not broken but Sacramento is.  Simply put, our state government spends too much, taxes too much, regulates too much and requires too little from those who feel they are most entitled to the great wealth and genius of this state and its people.  No doubt California is in trouble but we should never be discouraged nor give up.  Our state government may be approaching insolvency but our state still has the greatest wealth and potential of any other in the union.

Furthermore, California is best positioned to lead the nation and globe by demonstrating the virtues of fiscal restraint, deregulation, tort reform, accountability and markets driven not by imposed entitlement, but rather true choice unhindered by the shackles of government mandates.  As in all times of great distress and reflection, the answer to the challenges of our time is ultimately found not in government but in the heart, mind and deeds of each voter.  To change the course of our state and nation will require individual personal effort, recommitting ourselves to the blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not mistaken belief in non-existent government entitlements.