from the 1.1.07 print edition of the herald-gazette
“To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.”
-Buddha
It is the time of year at which pundits worldwide spout forth a plethora of predictions for the new year and try to spot emerging trends.
From my seat, I see a growing trend toward practicing and promoting self reliance.
Over the holidays I talked with a half dozen college age young people all home to visit family. To a person, they were on the self reliance bandwagon.
“The absolute worst thing one can do is place a welfare check or food stamp in the hands of an able-bodied person. Once the will to work is gone, it is gone forever,” one said.
“The Grady Hospital apologists talk about caring for those patients unable to pay when the vast majority are simply unwilling to pay,” another student argued.
When this sort of mindset takes hold upon the younger - and, generally, more liberal - college crowd, it is an indicator of a shifting paradigm.
Also in a recent conversation, I heard a government official’s tale of a purported welfare/low income mother who was trying to have a fee waived for her child’s inclusion in an activity. During the heated discussion, the mother’s cell phone rang.
“If you can afford that phone, you can afford our fee,” the official said. And, the case was closed. I’m not sure if the fee was paid, clearing the way for the child’s participation, and I really don’t care. The official handled the matter properly and is to be applauded.
In yet another - and more frightening - conversation a retired, high-ranking military man theorized about what might have happened had an invading military force hit New Orleans rather than Hurricane Katrina.
The argument makes the huge presumption that such a force could get by our offshore defense systems but that is an argument for another day. His premise was Katrina exposed a huge slice of the New Orleans population that could not survive for more than 48 hours without government handouts.
In his scenario, the invading force would wisely arrive and take over the handing out of monetary stipends and food or food vouchers.In this manner, it would usurp the role of the American government.
His question was this. “In this scenario, would those dependent on handouts remain loyal to the American government that had cared for them for life or would their loyalty shift to the invader with cash and food in hand?”.
I think we all know the answer.
As you watch the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl, recall the post Katrina scene in the Superdome where the game will be played.
Imagine, the image of Hugo Chavez or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad soothing those not self-reliant on the Jumbotron.
Scary thought, isn’t it?
Let’s join together to practice and preach self-reliance in 2008.
12 comments:
Illusions of grandeur......How well I remember it when I was in my youth. These young adults will find out soon there is no employer to employee loyalty and as a result none now exist the other way around. Capitalism has no moral consience. You give your heart and soul to a company taking your life to work your way up the pay scale. Then what happens? Out sourcing, temp servcies, contractors, down sizing, H1Bs, illegals, NAFTA, age descrimination give to name a few. I wonder what these new grads. will think when they reach their fifties and are replaced by a new grad. 30 years younger and will to work for 30K less. The American dream is fast going down the toilet. When they get a realistic understanding of their share of the National debit I wonder what their reation will then be. And its not the social give a way programs that has run it up but corperate welfare.
what a load of crap that article was......to suggest that people on medicaid or welfare are not loyal americans.....walter, you should be ashame of yourself....I dont believe you really think that way....I believe you are trying to pander to the strong redneck rightwingers....you may be surprised how many moderates there are in Lamar.
people on medicaid or welfare are not loyal americans,or else they would'nt be leaching off the productive people of this country build a seperate state for all the lazy bums
3:48 the very reason we have the problems we have to day is because of the unions
I thought it was a fine column. To our enbittered commrade, I have a few questions / comments.
First, I would like to state that your problems stem, not from Capitalism, but from your perverted view of Capitalism. True Capitalism needs no moral conscience. It's moral compass, rather, is reason and logic. Reason is a concrete objective that all rational men can understand, unlike your perpetually changing feelings of what a company owes you or vica versa. Your company owes you nothing except for what you have earned via providing the services you were hired to perform.
If you have been working at a company for 30 years, and you can be replaced by an entry level employee, then why wouldn't the company replace you? If both of you offer the same service, why should they pay you more than market value? Would you pay the same for a '85 model car that you would a '08?
I believe these short-tooths(if that's a word, if not, then youngsters) have hit the nail on the head. Your life is your responsibility. Noone owes you anything. From reading your post, you want something you haven't earned. Showing up somewhere for 20 years doesn't entitle you to anything. The owners of that company can't pay their debt and the other employees' salaries with your tenure. The bank will not accept "but my workers have been here so long" as payment. They are there to make a profit. And that entails stretching every dollar for its greatest value. If I can pay a 20-something 40k to do the same job I am paying you 70k to do, then your ass is grass....as they say.
It is simple supply and demand. It is the reason we are the richest nation on earth. It is the reason that a poor person in America has two cars, a cell phone, and cable television, and has never had to go without food. Only capitalism can provide that kind of surplus and wealth because only capitalism offers people the incentives and liberties to reach their ultimate potential. Capitalism drives innovation. Without personal gain as the ultimate reward, what drives people to get off the couch and achieve? Capitalism does. Why would someone spend hours studying and working to be paid the same as someone who spends their time partying? They wouldn't. The drive to have a life that only myself and noone else can provide, not your government and not your union, is what gets me out of bed in the morning and keeps me at the office until 8pm. That drive, and the rewards derived there from, are what keep this economy going. That is the system that is solely responsible for the greatest nation on earth. That is the system that has empowered more people than any nation or ruler on earth, simply by letting them be free to acheive all they can. That is the system that propelled us to the forefront of the world. That is capitalism.
However, all the good done is slowly being erased as we creep ever so closer to socialism in this country with the help of power hungy, pandering politicians, Soviet Communist throwbacks, and people like you who are bitter that you couldn't cut it on your own and think that someone else is responsible for your life........or lack thereof.
Reason and logic...yea right. You can rationalize and construct a logical argument for any illmoral economic system like slavery, child labor abuse, undocumented workers just to name a few. I have taken responsibility for my economic situation and I am far better off that 95% of the rest of the American workers there for I am very much the exception.
There was a time as recent as 20 years ago that companies has a sence of humanity but with corperate lobying power in congress things changed.
Your right...it's all about profit which is instilled by a constant fear of lack. Destitution is the number one fear of the average American and there is a better way to live your life. The American worker is being squeezed to the point that the middle class will soon be nonexistent. People are falling apart due to the constant pressure which is being turned up every year. They have been programmed to believe joy can be acquired through material gain.
What's happening is many technical workers are being replaced by H1Bs (foreign national educated here in the states and hired and sponsored by companies) at a much reduced compensation package. There are so many angles being worked against the American worker and you failed to address any of them.
And...your dead wrong...we are our bothers keeper. You act as if we are all born with the same mental capacity, level of self actualization and oppertunities. But you are dead wrong. Capitalism is a consumpion based economic system that can not substain itself much longer and will die when resourses become depleted.
Your also wrong about this company being the greatest in the world. There are many other countries that out rank the US in education, health, standard of living, and quality of life.
to 6:03.....man am i proud to know that there is at least one other person out there that is sane,,,what a greaat post....couldnt have said it better.......and you know what really galls me is that the people who think it is every person for himself and that the government should turn its back on the little guy , is the very people who need the givernment the most.....and the ones who think religion is the answer to everything, but dont want to help the unforanant
what would we do without all the people who are union workers.....teachers, fireman, police,,government workers, state workers, entertainters, radio and tv personalities(hannity, boortz, limbaugh),oil workers, airline pilots, tuckers, longshore workers, etc......man, we would be in big big big trouble without unions.....can do without illegals better than without unions
only way we could do away with unions is for the government to assume the responibilites that the unions provide....insurance, retirement, disability, etc......they would have to treat all the workers in american like they treat the military and the government civil servants
unions are for people that cant compete in the real world
"Capitalism has no moral consience. You give your heart and soul to a company taking your life to work your way up the pay scale. Then what happens? Out sourcing, temp servcies, contractors, down sizing, H1Bs, illegals, NAFTA, age descrimination give to name a few."
Yep! My father worked for 30+ years at Aldora. Now, the retirees are being jerked around on their health care insurance. Never mind the pitiful pension that hands out every month.
"The American dream is fast going down the toilet."
Right again. Societies become unstable when the distribution of wealth becomes lopsided. With so much medium/low skill employment departing offshore, the ability to have the "American dream" is fast fading. At some point very soon, violence will break out.
The "United" States is finished. All that remains is the fighting over the pieces.
Where to start. I had no idea Barnesville was full of people so willing to give up their personal liberties for the safety provided by big government.
Sorry I was gone so long. Had to give my heart and sould to my company.
Slavery and child labor have no place in a true capitalist economic system. That sentence alone discredits your entire argument. You are arguing against a system that you know nothing about. The only participants in a true capitalist economy are willing, informed, rational thinking, humans. Slavery and child labor are the tools of oppression, not of freedom. You want me to be a slave to the government. Working my ass off for whatever they determine I need. You can't motivate a human mind with subjective whims of a nameless, faceless regulating body. The human mind is rational and must see a return for its work.
Unknowingly, you are endorsing a socialists / communist type government. From each according to his means, to each according to his needs. Tax the rich to pay for the poor's food, housing, and health care. How do we keep the middle class big? How do we keep the middle class from slipping into the lower class without taking away their ability to ascend into the upper class?
"only way we could do away with unions is for the government to assume the responibilites that the unions provide"
Or we could take responsibility for oursevles....Just a thought.
Capitalism is not consumer produced and is the only rational way to distribute, for lack of a better word, a scarce resource. Economics 101.
Capitalism is a production based system. If America stops producing tomorrow, what good are your american dollars. There will be nothing on which to spend them. How will you eat when the farmers get tired of having their profits taken to pay for the bum's healthcare and quit?
I am amazed. I had no idea how low our society had sunk since WWII. We gave the best and brightest of a generation to defeat socialism and communism, which we did, emphatically. And now, their very own blood kin are undermining everything thing for which they fought and died. These men were willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice to defeat the world's greatest evil, and you support it in light e-chat like it is the answer to our worlds problems.
How do you propose we protect the American worker? Forcing companies to pay them more than the market dictates? What about profits? What about the investers that provide the capital, that in turn provides their jobs, to which they claim they own and have some sort of right? Without the return on their investment, who will fund your losing business?
You go be your brother's keeper in Venezuela, or Communist China. I want to stay here, where individualism and freedom still stand for something.
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