“No one ever steals for good reasons.” 

— Frank Sinatra as the title character in the 1967 film “Tony Rome”

The recent government shutdown was very revealing.

It revealed an army of unemployed hostile-dependency baby-mamas indifferent to birthing children they cannot support; insisting that they are innocent victims of circumstance; and demanding that those who carry their own weight pick up the tab – right now.

It revealed the built-in deceptions of Obamacare that have seen costs skyrocket and realism plummet as yet another affirmation of the hollow promises of the silly deception popularly called Democratic Socialism.

It revealed a Democrat Party determined to ensure its longevity by hoodwinking voters into believing that they can uniquely provide something for nothing without a day of reckoning for middleclass pockets.

It revealed federal spending deficits and unfunded entitlement mandates that no one seems to notice, much less address, that will one day set our horizon on fire.

It revealed the fact that having the federal government shut down — despite the hysteria and media magnification of the reality — most surely impacted government employees and government dependents versus the people who pay for the systemic waste and inefficiency. 

 It revealed that we’re stuck in a super-dangerous spending loop that has voters refusing to let go of any of their expectations and politicians afraid to embrace the truth out of fear of losing office. Nothing painful is being addressed. Those cans are being repeatedly kicked down the road for someone else to open.

 It revealed a government that cannot budget or live within its means, while expecting the rest of us to do just that.

 Lest we gloat in the pretense that you and I are floating above the fray, may one suggest there’s a lot about a lot of us that merits a bit of scrutiny?

Mind if I share a few?

Most voters pick candidates that make them feel good and promise what they want to hear. That is why so many of our leaders are self-serving sociopaths. 

Inevitably, pandering to special interests steals your soul. Insisting on being pandered to does precisely the same thing. The end result is a nation of the self-serving in danger of losing itself.

 Our healthcare system is a confused mixture of socialized medicine, crony capitalism and special interests that is ridiculously expensive, unsustainable and inconsistent in service delivery. 

It can be fixed, but again, no one has the courage to face and address what is broken. 

Don’t for a minute believe that the left’s clamor for socialized medicine will make it better. 

Ask the U.K. and Canada how well that’s working for them. Better yet, quit listening to those sociopathic promisers of something for nothing — and do some research. 

The American way is free enterprise; competition; clean, clear, enforced laws and rules; personal accountability; and realism. 

Yes, Mrytle, that means that the 40 percent of us who are obese; 60 percent with a chronic health condition; 75 percent who don’t care to exercise; and the 50 percent who drink, ingest weed or otherwise get high to get by are going to have to start taking charge of their health in an adult versus adolescent manner. 

 We’re living in a time where, behind the mask of fakery, everyone is stealing from everyone else. 

Fast food is over-priced junk; cars are made to self-destruct; providing value is no longer an American value; tradesman routinely cheat and overcharge customers; and things that we make are so poorly put together that almost everything requires a purchased warranty. 

As Frank Sinatra shared above in his detective movie “Tony Rome,” “No one ever steals for good reasons.” We could add – or with a likelihood of a good outcome.

Our moral code in today’s American culture has the maturity, consistency, charity and responsibility characterizing that of the average middle-school student. 

We’re also abandoning morality as a crucial social compass and then wondering why our society is falling apart. In the absence of a functional moral code, people naturally evolve toward the path of moral indifference. No culture can survive that betrayal of foundation ethics.

Ask most people what a good life is, and they will speak to not having to work; having their needs taken care of; and a minimum of responsibility married to a maximum of fun, entertainment, and distraction. That’s a description of a child, not an adult, and nations are not built, maintained, or sustained by children.

What to do?

Ask yourself if, like most people, you built, perfected, and locked in your emotional-social coping skills in middle school.

Rethink and correct that misstep.

Don’t be a child.

Don’t support childish behaviors and thinking in others. That includes America’s army of middle-schooler baby-mamas; socialistic unicorn chasers; scared to death of their death liberal-protesting baby-boomers; and media outlets who rely on fear, anger, division, pretense and bias to keep you glued in.