Monday, January 26, 2004
In case you haven't noticed by now, this website is not a diary or journal.
It is a web blog.
If you don't know the difference, a diary is a log of a person's daily activities and thoughts.
A blog is essentially a conduit into that person's thoughts. It's a talk box.
So while I will comment on the happenings of my life, I have no interest in turning this site into a "What did David do today?" excercise. This site will always be the place where I voice my thoughts, feelings, and desires. Thus, the running political commentary for the past week.
I will say this, though: my friend Vic recently bought the biggest TV I have ever seen. It is wider than my couch.
That's about the only noteworthy happening right now. Let's move on.
I recently wrote a bit about my political leanings. As I stated before, I am a centrist who borders on being a Libertarian. In fact, I took a political test recently that placed me on the border between liberal and libertarian.
The most liberal major party (excluding non-viable parties such as the Communist or Socialists) is the Democrats. However, while I agree with their social platform to some extent, I completely disagree with their economic platform.
Their economic philosophy is pretty much summed up by this statement: if I am not as successful as you, then you should be forced to help me. This is supported by their insistence on taxing the top 2% of income earners beyond reason (they already pay anywhere between 30-45% of the nation's income tax) and their support of increased welfare and unemployment.
I am going to argue that the Democrats' policy on unemployment is destructive to the people of this country, ESPECIALLY the very people they are trying to help.
There's a very old proverb: you give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. You teach a man to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime.
Now, I know some of you will think that's an easy, cliche defense.
But think about it for a second. If I'm giving you fish, what motivation do you have to learn how to fish for yourself?
For some rason, this seems to be a difficult concept for people to grasp. We have allowed abuse of the welfare and unemployment systems in this country. As a result, these programs have grown far above and beyond their intended uses. This has created a tax burden on the middle and upper classes that is unneccessary.
Here's a fact for you: the lowest 20% of income earners in this country have or will be in the top 20% of income earners at one time or another.
What does that mean? It means that being in the lowest income bracket is not a permanent condition. The lower income earners mostly consist of the people who are on welfare or unemployment at that time.
As for the ones who are in that bracket....they may be the lower class, but I would hardly argue that they are 'poor'. Even they have shelter, a car, a mattress to sleep on, and a color TV. They eat every day. That is simply nothing to complain about.
I think that means that we are taking care of our lower class. If they don't like having less stuff, then they can go earn more stuff.
Look, the unemployment and welfare systems were never designed for this. They were designed as a safety net in case another great depression rolled around, where people wouldn't be able to find jobs for years. They weren't designed to make your life easier if you got laid off or fired.
The government cannot solve employment problems for this country. Everything the government tried during the Great Depression of the 1920s failed, or even made the problems worse. It was only when the economy received a boost in jobs due to World War II that the depression ended.
This is my solution for this problem: the government gets out of everything it can. The private sector can take care of things like education and health care. The people are more than capable of it. Make defense and law enforcement, the only areas the people cannot or should not do for themselves, the government's only fiscal responsibilities.
Drastically scale back welfare and Social Security, and make unemployment dormant. Have welfare only be enough to pay for food, and build protections into it to prevent abuse. In other words, no welfare checks that can be cashed to pay for drugs. None. Reinstitute unemployment only if it is truly on the same level as the Great Depression.
With all of this money that people no longer pay the government, tell them to put that away for retirement. If they need the money for an emergency or if they lose their jobs, it's theirs to use, as it should be. If they don't want to invest it in a 401K that can be lost if the company they work for mismanges it (Enron), then they don't have to.
If they instead want to spend their money on big screen TVs and other frivolous things, that's their decision.
See, that's the rub. That's why people don't want to scale back unemployment. They want to be able to spend all of their money on things they don't need, and yet not have to take responsibility if that choice leads to their being screwed if their job is lost.
I also know that there's another group who's not going to like this plan: people who want to own homes.
This is what I have to say to these people: too bad. You are not entitled to a home. Taking on debt is a risky decision.
If you're not prepared to keep up with your job market, or don't want to risk being screwed if your job is lost, don't go into debt.
Isn't personal responbility fun?
The government cannot and should not give you the things you want in life. That's not how this works. You have to be able to support your own place in life.
Unhappy working for a low wage? Then work hard to improve your skills. Have something to offer so that it's worth an employer's money to have you around.
That's what great about this country. Few things are guaranteed in life. But here in America, we can guarantee you this: if you want to become greater than you are, the opportunity is there.
However, the Democrats think you are entitled to the things you want in life, whether you are willing to give society something useful back or not. They want to be the ones giving you that fish for the rest of your life. That way, you're dependent upon them and the federal government.
Sorry. I don't believe in that.
We can take care of ourselves.
It is a web blog.
If you don't know the difference, a diary is a log of a person's daily activities and thoughts.
A blog is essentially a conduit into that person's thoughts. It's a talk box.
So while I will comment on the happenings of my life, I have no interest in turning this site into a "What did David do today?" excercise. This site will always be the place where I voice my thoughts, feelings, and desires. Thus, the running political commentary for the past week.
I will say this, though: my friend Vic recently bought the biggest TV I have ever seen. It is wider than my couch.
That's about the only noteworthy happening right now. Let's move on.
I recently wrote a bit about my political leanings. As I stated before, I am a centrist who borders on being a Libertarian. In fact, I took a political test recently that placed me on the border between liberal and libertarian.
The most liberal major party (excluding non-viable parties such as the Communist or Socialists) is the Democrats. However, while I agree with their social platform to some extent, I completely disagree with their economic platform.
Their economic philosophy is pretty much summed up by this statement: if I am not as successful as you, then you should be forced to help me. This is supported by their insistence on taxing the top 2% of income earners beyond reason (they already pay anywhere between 30-45% of the nation's income tax) and their support of increased welfare and unemployment.
I am going to argue that the Democrats' policy on unemployment is destructive to the people of this country, ESPECIALLY the very people they are trying to help.
There's a very old proverb: you give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. You teach a man to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime.
Now, I know some of you will think that's an easy, cliche defense.
But think about it for a second. If I'm giving you fish, what motivation do you have to learn how to fish for yourself?
For some rason, this seems to be a difficult concept for people to grasp. We have allowed abuse of the welfare and unemployment systems in this country. As a result, these programs have grown far above and beyond their intended uses. This has created a tax burden on the middle and upper classes that is unneccessary.
Here's a fact for you: the lowest 20% of income earners in this country have or will be in the top 20% of income earners at one time or another.
What does that mean? It means that being in the lowest income bracket is not a permanent condition. The lower income earners mostly consist of the people who are on welfare or unemployment at that time.
As for the ones who are in that bracket....they may be the lower class, but I would hardly argue that they are 'poor'. Even they have shelter, a car, a mattress to sleep on, and a color TV. They eat every day. That is simply nothing to complain about.
I think that means that we are taking care of our lower class. If they don't like having less stuff, then they can go earn more stuff.
Look, the unemployment and welfare systems were never designed for this. They were designed as a safety net in case another great depression rolled around, where people wouldn't be able to find jobs for years. They weren't designed to make your life easier if you got laid off or fired.
The government cannot solve employment problems for this country. Everything the government tried during the Great Depression of the 1920s failed, or even made the problems worse. It was only when the economy received a boost in jobs due to World War II that the depression ended.
This is my solution for this problem: the government gets out of everything it can. The private sector can take care of things like education and health care. The people are more than capable of it. Make defense and law enforcement, the only areas the people cannot or should not do for themselves, the government's only fiscal responsibilities.
Drastically scale back welfare and Social Security, and make unemployment dormant. Have welfare only be enough to pay for food, and build protections into it to prevent abuse. In other words, no welfare checks that can be cashed to pay for drugs. None. Reinstitute unemployment only if it is truly on the same level as the Great Depression.
With all of this money that people no longer pay the government, tell them to put that away for retirement. If they need the money for an emergency or if they lose their jobs, it's theirs to use, as it should be. If they don't want to invest it in a 401K that can be lost if the company they work for mismanges it (Enron), then they don't have to.
If they instead want to spend their money on big screen TVs and other frivolous things, that's their decision.
See, that's the rub. That's why people don't want to scale back unemployment. They want to be able to spend all of their money on things they don't need, and yet not have to take responsibility if that choice leads to their being screwed if their job is lost.
I also know that there's another group who's not going to like this plan: people who want to own homes.
This is what I have to say to these people: too bad. You are not entitled to a home. Taking on debt is a risky decision.
If you're not prepared to keep up with your job market, or don't want to risk being screwed if your job is lost, don't go into debt.
Isn't personal responbility fun?
The government cannot and should not give you the things you want in life. That's not how this works. You have to be able to support your own place in life.
Unhappy working for a low wage? Then work hard to improve your skills. Have something to offer so that it's worth an employer's money to have you around.
That's what great about this country. Few things are guaranteed in life. But here in America, we can guarantee you this: if you want to become greater than you are, the opportunity is there.
However, the Democrats think you are entitled to the things you want in life, whether you are willing to give society something useful back or not. They want to be the ones giving you that fish for the rest of your life. That way, you're dependent upon them and the federal government.
Sorry. I don't believe in that.
We can take care of ourselves.
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