What is happening to our country? All of the virtues I grew up with and had drummed into me by parents, grandparents and culture are now being challenged and in many cases dismantled. They are being replaced by a socialist, entitlement, envy and redistribution philosophy that says government knows best and it will punish you by taking more of what you earn to give to those with less initiative, risk-taking and dedication than you have.

Tuesday night in Washington, I attended one of those dinners that are all too common in the nation’s capital, except this one was different. It was sponsored by the Bill of Rights Institute. High school students from across the country were given awards for essays they wrote on civic values, such as industry, responsibility, entrepreneurship, patriotism, loyalty and my personal favorite, limited government.

One of the speakers who preceded the awards ceremony was Jim Rees, the chief executive officer at Mt. Vernon. Rees quoted our first president: “There is no practice more dangerous than that of borrowing money; for when money can be had in this way, repayment is seldom thought of in time, the interest becomes a loss, exertions to raise it by dent of industry ceases, it becomes easy and is spent freely and many things are indulged in that would never be thought of if they were to be purchased by the sweat of the brow. In the meantime, debt is accumulating like a snow ball rolling.”

This congress and this president are violating George Washington’s sage advice. They might also remember the wisdom of another president, often misattributed to Thomas Jefferson, but actually said by Gerald Ford: “A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”

We are approaching that point now and it is a threat to individual liberty, the greatest civic, social and moral value of them all.

Cal Thomas is America’s most widely syndicated newspaper columnist and a Fox News contributor.

So, here we are — with a majority of Americans feeling distinctly un-American as a partisan takeover of health care was engineered last weekend. But do Americans realize that Congress just took over student loans as well? Unlikely.

Now, not only will government increasingly be making decisions about individuals’ health care, but students will also have to deal exclusively with the government to get the financing they need for college. The government will be in charge of the delivery of $1 trillion in federal student loans over the next 10 years. That means 19 million students will have no where to call but to 1-800-DEPT-OF-ED. — I’m sure the calls will be handled in the order in which they were received. Good luck with that. Competition and choice have been taken away in the student loan market.  Let’s face it, this experiment can only end badly.

It’s frustrating that a law this sweeping was swept under the Obamacare rug. The Senate never introduced a student loan reform bill. It never held a hearing. And proposed changes to the student loan program were never even considered by lawmakers at the committee level.

“Schoolhouse Rock’s” Bill is red faced with shame. What’s worse is that The Wall Street Journal editorial page and The Washington Times reported on Thursday about certain Democratic Congressmen giving certain non-profit companies in their states non-competitive carve outs…And these are companies that already didn’t pay taxes. And there was even a special “carve out” for Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota. But it was taken out at the last minute because it was just too unseemly. At least we know they have standards!

If the tables were turned, Democrats would be crying foul and demanding an ethics investigation. The American people — and its students — deserve to know what really happened.

Dana Perino is a Fox News contributor and former White House press secretary.

Two years ago, John McCain transformed Sarah Palin overnight from an obscure first-term Alaska governor into a national celebrity when he picked her as his vice presidential running mate.

Now Palin is repaying the favor, putting her prestige on the line in an effort to help the four-term Arizona senator overcome his toughest re-election challenge ever.

The two will campaign together Friday for the first time since they lost the presidential race in 2008.

McCain is fending off a primary challenge from former congressman and conservative talk-radio host J.D. Hayworth, who is a darling of the Tea Party, whose support McCain hopes Palin can undercut.

“She’s very popular with the Republican Party and she’s very popular with our supporters,” he told Fox News.

Palin will tout McCain’s conservative credentials at rallies in Tucson on Friday and in Mesa on Saturday. They’ll also hold a fundraiser on Friday at the same Phoenix hotel where McCain conceded the presidential election on Nov. 4, 2008.

Political experts say Palin could help McCain win over even the Republican party’s most conservative members.

“I don’t think most endorsements have much effect at all. But I think Palin in this specific race could make a difference,” political analyst Tucker Carlson told Fox News, calling Palin the “de facto leader of the Tea Party Movement.”

“She’s the one person that the kind of voters who don’t like McCain in Arizona might listen to,” Carlson said. ” She’s the one person who might be able to convince them to support John McCain.”

Since the 2008 election, Palin has shocked the political world by resigning her governorship and becoming a best-selling author, a hero of the Tea Party Movement and a strident critic of President Obama and Democrats in Congress.

McCain, who built his career on a reputation for being a maverick and working with Democrats on major issues such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and restricting campaign donations, has made a notable shift to the right as he fights for his political life. 

Hayworth, is hoping to topple one of the Republican Party’s best-known figures by reaching out to conservative activists. He has tried to define himself as “the consistent conservative” in contrast to the “maverick” McCain.

He says McCain is too moderate for Arizona Republicans and is trying to hang his past work with Democrats around his neck like an albatross.

Before Hayworth left his radio show to enter the race, he used the airwaves to attack McCain’s congressional record, most notably his work with the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on a bill that would have created a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

And he points to a Facebook page, Sarah Palin Supporters for JD, as evidence that he has the edge on the Tea Party vote.

“I think that really tells us where a lot of Arizona conservatives are,” Hayworth told Fox News. “They think the world of Gov. Palin, but fortunately, they’re going to vote for me. So let me put it this way, I look forward to having Ms. Palin’s support following the primary on August 24th.”

But leaders of four of the largest Tea Party organizations in Arizona issued a joint press release earlier this month, pledging neutrality in the state’s Republican primary.

Peter Mirijanian, former adviser to Bill Clinton and Al Gore, said he believes Palin could make a difference for McCain, but he added that the Hayworth campaign is responding just right to her endorsement.

“Which is Palin is coming to speak on behalf of John McCain because she feels obligated to do so because he put her on the ticket, but her heart is really with us,” he told Fox News.

Palin has criticized McCain’s presidential campaign since their loss, saying in her book “Going Rogue” that there was substantial tension between her advisers and McCain’s. She said she was kept “bottled up” from reporters during the campaign and was prevented from delivering a concession speech on Election Night.

But Palin hasn’t actually criticized McCain himself, and the senator has stood by his decision to choose her as his running mate, saying he was proud of the campaign and predicting she will be a “major player” in the Republican Party.

Carlson called their reunion “pretty striking.”

“We’ve heard for the past year about this pretty dramatic rift,” he said. “This is proof they are united, at least in this moment. It’s kind of a big deal. It’s unexpected. I don’t think it’s obvious Palin would be doing this.”

Click here to read a live shots.

FoxNews.com’s Stephen Clark, Fox News’ Anita Vogel and Lindsay Stewart and The Associated Press contributed to this report.