Let Them Eat … Something Else

Cal Thomas, Tribune Content Agency on May 1, 2025

Last Sunday I was a panelist on “Fox News Sunday” with Shannon Bream. My friend and colleague Juan Williams brought up the continuing high price of eggs as part of his criticism of President Trump’s first 100 days in his second term. While wholesale egg prices are coming down, I said only half-jokingly “let people eat oatmeal.”

The presumption in Juan’s statement, if I am sensing it correctly, is that people can’t do anything without government, or make individual decisions that government can’t make for them. In previous generations before entitlement replaced doing for one’s self, and credit cards made it easy to purchase things without giving much thought to what the bill and high interest would look like, if you couldn’t afford something you didn’t buy it.

The power of the individual and individual choices was once regarded as supreme. Government can never do more for you than you can do for yourself. Not buying eggs for a while and choosing healthier food will inevitably lower egg prices. It’s called supply and demand. Buying store brand, rather than name brand items can also lower the grocery bill.

Starting an exercise program and losing weight, under a doctor’s supervision, can lead to better health, as can taking certain vitamins, potentially lowering health care costs.

Retrieving power from the government adds to individual liberty and can make government smaller and more efficient.

Too many Americans have an addiction to government. Politicians encourage dependency because it helps keep them in office with all the benefits they receive, even if their constituents don’t get as many benefits as they do.

Realizing that an individual has the power to make his or her life better by right decision-making and not indulging in envy over the success of others offers a sense of personal satisfaction the government cannot provide. The late HUD Secretary and former Republican Congressman Jack Kemp was right when he said: “The power of one man or one woman doing the right thing for the right reason, and at the right time, is the greatest influence in our society.” Think of how you felt the first time you rode your bike without training wheels. You would never go back after that feeling of freedom and accomplishment.

This is also true in an individual’s financial life. Starting early in life with a habit of saving, even if it is only small amounts, and then investing conservatively as the account grows, produces individual wealth that may not always rival that of the “millionaires and billionaires” many liberal Democrats love to hate, but it does have the potential to offer a type of security government can’t fully provide.

We don’t appear to be teaching personal responsibility and accountability in our public schools and universities these days. Is it any wonder that so many have come to believe in government as their “keeper, they shall not want”?

Part of this mentality has to do with an ignorance of the past. Having the internet and social media has not made us smarter. Consulting the wisdom of those who have previously considered economic and moral truths would make for a better life for individuals and the country. Putting faith in politicians to do for us what we should be doing for ourselves leads to a dead end and frustration.

Ignoring and refusing to apply the wisdom of the past may cause you to end up with egg on your face. If that happens the price of eggs won’t matter.

========

Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I've Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America" (HumanixBooks).