Good Think
Every now and then I try to think like I know I am supposed to, but it rarely works for me. I know I am supposed to be happy to contribute to the raising of my neighbor’s son’s girlfriend’s baby daughter simply because she can't (or won't) and I can. It is just that sometimes I think that maybe people should be responsible for themselves.
More than half of us now seem to believe that government should take money from one to give to another who has less. What is wrong with that? Shouldn’t everyone be able to have the same things?
Liberalism (progressivism) is a more romantic ideal. Share and share alike and we all can sing Peter Paul and Mary songs, sit under trees in the sunshine, eat fruits and nuts off of the land and live happily ever after. The reality is we don’t live in fantasy land, we live on Earth. Here, someone has to trim that tree, mow the grass and plant and harvest the fruits and nuts. On Earth, people are eager to take the easy road, if that road is to have government take from someone else to give to them, they will do it. It is in our nature to take the course of least resistance.
We have morphed from a nation built on individuality and strength to one on our knees with our hands out to others. It is easier to be fed than to hunt for our own food. Why forage the forest if there is a lenient master willing to feed us?
Money now seems to belong to everyone collectively. There really is no “Private Money”. After all, you can’t print your own can you? All money is public to be spent as government sees fit. Sure you are credited with earning it, and even have your own bank account, but it really isn’t yours. Obamacare is just one example of them requiring us to spend our money their way, so obviously it is no longer really our money.
It is now considered selfishly narcissistic to want to keep all of the money we earn, or that is what many who speak from the platforms claim to believe. If more than half believe in redistributing other people’s money, is it therefore morally acceptable? That is the prevailing reasoning method. The fact that it doesn’t work, that wealth is never multiplied by dividing it, or the fact that it has never worked is irrelevant.
Somehow we have come to believe that if more than half believe in something, it is true, correct and the debate is over. Our memories are short. Only about 1/3 of the colonists wanted to leave England and create our own country. Years ago, just about everyone believed the Earth was the center of the universe and the sun revolved around us. Most believing it didn’t make it true.
Truth hasn’t changed. Reality is what it is. Most people – even most good people – will take the easiest road possible. If that is a cushy government job, so be it. If it is a government entitlement program, than great. We won’t often take the more difficult path; it just isn’t in our nature. Why should we suffer even minor inconvenience if an easier route is readily available?
Long ago we actually could keep and trade money. We could barter services or objects, or pay in silver or gold. Clearly today we can’t do that. This is the 21st century. What would we think of a person who was completely convinced that the Earth was flat? Or that the sun revolved around it? That dinosaurs currently inhabit a remote island, or that Elvis is still alive? Crazy? Maybe not, but we probably wouldn’t let them use our only car for the weekend.
To my surprise, I found out that many people in the United States agree with the phrase: "From each with ability to those in need" or something similar to it. They believe it is the American way; that it is a part of our Bill of Rights now. Maybe they don’t remember who first said it, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson? No, it was someone else. Anyway, they believe he was a very wise and compassionate thinker on whose principles our country has become great. He was misunderstood in his day, but now that we are more enlightened, we all understand it better. Today we realize that we have to redistribute income and wealth to people who really need it more than those who earned it. It is our national policy. No mater how hard it seems, it is the right thing to do.
Truth is not determined by majority opinion. Small government is more efficient government; the smaller the better. Individuals know best what to do with their own money, and should keep almost all of it for themselves. A policy of wealth redistribution no mater how much anyone else “needs” it is wrong and is harmful to all; the individual receiving it, the ones sacrificing to pay for it and society as a whole dealing with the consequences of it.
Despite the obvious waste, a certain minor level of taxes are necessary for the common good. We all know that, but the common good must be defined. Everyone should have to pay at least some tax. Even the poor should pay something. No one likes it; yes, it is hard. When only some are required to pay taxes, we divide the country into slaves and masters. The slaves do the working and paying, the masters the taking and spending.
Knowing that many people feel as we do is somewhat comforting, but we have to admit it. We must stop this nonsense of silent compliance and return the America we once knew. We must regress.
The frustration the taxpaying class feels about the economic problems we are forced to face every day is growing. We will show that the difficulties have been foisted upon us not by chance, but by intentional political design.
Unfortunately we have to time travel a bit here and go back about 100 years to uncover the original onset of our decline. This alteration in thought process from independent self-reliant hard working citizen to unproductive government dependent free-loaders did not evolve by accident. It was planned over a century ago. Like biological terrorists in a lab, the virus that caused this national metamorphosis was intentionally engineered.
Something went wrong. Despite technological advances and the promise of leisurely lifestyles, the previous generation didn't work as long or as hard for as little as we do today. They managed to pay for a home and raise a family mostly on a single income. At death they were able to leave that house debt free to their children. Success comes more easily to the free. It used to come more easily to Americans.
Men of generations past with far less education could hold ordinary but respectful laborer and management type jobs and earn enough money for an entire family. Sometimes the mother did venture out into the workplace, but usually it was only if she wanted to supplement the family income temporarily and part-time, not due to constant financial necessity. Typically women would work only after the kids had grown, then Mom would enter the rat race of the workforce not to financially survive, but to enhance an already pleasant lifestyle and retirement.
Unless she is on welfare it is rare for a mother today to stay home and raise a family. Her income is necessary to help run the household. The argument of course is that without the additional income, there would be none of life’s frills, nothing extra beyond basic food, clothing and shelter; no benefits, and no fun. Are we having fun now?
No More Merit Raises
What happened to merit raises? Mostly they have disappeared in favor of “fairness”. Businesses now often offer only inflation related increases so we can barely maintain our established lifestyle, not increase it. So, if we become better at our job over time, more efficient, we make fewer mistakes, produce at a higher level - which most of us do, we really are no longer compensated for that improvement. We can’t buy more stuff as a reward for increased productivity; if we’re lucky, we can only buy the same things because cost of living raises have replaced the merit raise. Why try to improve ourselves if it doesn’t matter?
The transformation of our economy was not the result of passive economic evolution, it was planned. We will attempt to analyze the progression of a society that has forced an increased productivity level on its producing citizens, while limiting the rewards and to show that it was created intentionally many years ago.
Next: It's Great to be King