July 4, 2026: A Cautionary Tale

Like a bill collector at your front door the Chinese Navy off the coast of Long Island should certainly bring fear to the hearts of Americans. Would they see those ships as a symbol of the loss of stature and impoverishment of our country? Or, would they nonchalantly ignore them like so many other previous warning signs?

Mr. Lipton’s dialogue is a cautionary tale about the U.S. turning its back on Thomas Jefferson’s advice that a wise government leaves its citizens free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement.

The most recent estimates of the Congressional Budget Office project that Social Security and Medicare payments will consume 50% of all federal outlays by 2030. A record number of Americans, almost 1 in 2, have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income. As of today the total federal debt exceeds what our economy produces in one year. These conditions are unsustainable.

This dialogue asks Americans to return to the virtues that made our nation great or face a dismal future.