(V): It's a cartoonish cliche that all docs are fabulously wealthy, and why you think life and liberty is laughable is disturbing. We supposedly have a right to live and the right to be free, unless our government decides otherwise.

The pursuit of happiness means you have the right to go about your business without undue interference. The effect this has had here is people were free to invent new things and market them, but in order for that to happen they had to be free to fail as well. Not everyone fails, and not everyone that fails continues to fail.

Wealth didn't just drop into Americas lap, it developed over time because people were allowed to grow businesses and invent new things. Too much government control over peoples lives has the opposite effect. If enough of your income goes towards a government that uses your money to control every aspect of your life, then where's the motivation to do something other than the usual day to day grind?