By Bill O'Reilly

If you are fortunate enough to acquire money in this life, you will also get power. Money in America can buy you protection, education, all of kinds of entertainment options. It could also buy you good doctors who keep you healthy. Accountants who will make you even more money and lawyers if anything goes wrong. Money is power.

If you don't have much money, life is much harder because you can't protect yourself as well as a wealthy person. That is why what is happening in America right now affects every single person who lives here. President Obama and the Democrats want to take power from the people and give it to the federal government. Every time you pay taxes, you make the government stronger and your own situation weaker.

So a tax increase empowers the government at the expense, pardon the pun, of the taxpayer. Of course, taxes are needed for the military, transportation, safety nets and other things that strengthen our freedoms. But what's happening now is a bunch of other stuff.

For example government control of the healthcare industry makes you weaker and the feds stronger.

Higher taxes on achievers make them weaker the feds stronger. Regulation of guns makes citizens more dependent on police. Thus, the government grows stronger. The more shots, pardon the pun, the feds and the states call the less freedom we the people have.

Now, some folks want to trade freedom for security. Just go to Cuba, you will see that. Go to China, government runs the show. And throughout history strong central governments have always been on display. But America was supposed to be different. That's why the founding fathers built in protections for us. That's why they encouraged a free press to keep government power in check to expose power grabs in Washington.

But now the press is working in concert with the Obama Administration. No longer do we have a skeptical media when it comes to confronting power. The President's liberal ideology is compatible with the liberal belief system of many media bosses. And so we are seeing a tremendous power grab in Washington. That's not being challenged by many in the media.

"Talking Points" admits that very few Americans understand what's really going on and certainly many voters had no clue in November. But just remember, every time -- every time a new law is passed, even the good ones the state grows more powerful, the individual becomes weaker. And that's the truth.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.