Posted on 04/26/2019 3:41:59 PM PDT by Rummyfan
I’m sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of Democratic candidates calling for policies to “fix” the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around. I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook’s, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we’ve become completely blind to it. Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose. These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don’t give them a second thought. We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty. One. Times. Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful.
Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, “An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity.”
Never saw American prosperity. Let that sink in. When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I’ve ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Now, I’m not attributing Miss Ocasio-Cortez’s words to outright dishonesty. I do think she whole-heartedly believes the words she said to be true. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided. My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let’s just say I didn’t have the popular opinion, but I digress.
Let me lay down some universal truths really quick. The United States of America has lifted more people out of abject poverty, spread more freedom and democracy, and has created more innovation in technology and medicine than any other nation in human history. Not only that but our citizenry continually breaks world records with charitable donations, the rags to riches story is not only possible in America but not uncommon, we have the strongest purchasing power on earth, and we encompass 25% of the world’s GDP. The list goes on. However, these universal truths don’t matter. We are told that income inequality is an existential crisis (even though this is not an indicator of prosperity, some of the poorest countries in the world have low-income inequality), we are told that we are oppressed by capitalism (even though it’s brought about more freedom and wealth to the most people than any other system in world history), we are told that the only way we will acquire the benefits of true prosperity is through socialism and centralization of federal power (even though history has proven time and again this only brings tyranny and suffering).
Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country. People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they’ve never seen prosperity, and as a result, elect politicians dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism. Why? The answer is this, my generation has ONLY seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn’t live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, or see the rise and fall of socialism and communism. We don’t know what it’s like not to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don’t have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it’s spreading like a plague.
With the current political climate giving rise to the misguided idea of a socialist utopia, will we see the light? Or will we have to lose it all to realize that what we have now is true prosperity? Destroying the free market will undo what millions of people have died to achieve.
My generation is becoming the largest voting bloc in the country. We have an opportunity to continue to propel us forward with the gifts capitalism and democracy has given us. The other option is that we can fall into the trap of entitlement and relapse into restrictive socialist destitution. The choice doesn’t seem too hard, does it?
Bookmark
“Nokomis”
Sounds like South Minneapolis
Don’t worry, history will repeat itself and the hard times will hit like a brick in the face. Venezuelans talked themselves from the most prosperous country in South America to the trash bin. I fear our nation is doing the same with AOC leading the way.
i looked it up it seems to be an unicorportaed tiny bit of florida
One thing I've learned from history is that the inhabitants of a golden age who don't know it when they're in it, lose it.
I find socialists to be the most greed driven of all, but this piece is also driven by materialistic values.
This war we are in, is a battle for the moral conscience and soul of a country. Not just how much is in one’s bank account.
It’s about our history.
In France, there is talk of turning Notre Dame into a greenhouse..yet what’s most lamentable is that the world that was capable of creating the beauty and splendor manifested in such cathedrals is so foreign to us. Now all people are told to aspire for is designing the latest ecofriendly, hipster coffee, dating app cell phone thing. Our founders wanted more for us than 401Ks and dollar bills.
One thing I’ve learned from history is that the inhabitants of a golden age who don’t know it when they’re in it, lose it.
*********
Easy times make weak men.
Weak men make bad times.
Bad times make hard men.
Hard men make easy times.
Easy times make weak men.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Most of us are at least 5 or six levels of separation above gritty raw reality. We have clean water...toilets...food.We have clothes made for us. We have people cut our hair...lawns..people make specialty foods for us and deliver it. We walk on paved streets or drive in custom built conveyances...we have insurance....very very few of us mine the minerals...melt, hammer and form the metal needed for such products...we don’t ddesign, or fabricate or assemble or maintain them. We dont prepare the soil...plant the seeds...harvest the crop...prep it...cook it. Most of us would die from starvation and thirst if any of our public systems went down.
None of these socialist clown representatives know how to do any infrastructure work....blind leading the blind.
That’s a fine bit of writing.
Envy. I don’t know what else it could be. It’s not that the ‘rats have such a great love for the “poor” American underclass. Rather, they are driven by envy and hatred for those who are more skilled, and let’s face it, more motivated to provide for their loved ones. It must be the pinnacle of humiliation to have it proven, for all the world to see, that you are a lazy, selfish POS who won’t lift a finger to help your own loved ones. So you deflect.
Pretty little town south of Sarasota Florida on the gulf coast. Beautiful beach and good fishing there.
People are incredibly ungrateful. And take so much for granted.
Thank you for this piece! Passed it along the chain to my peeps.
I think Fyodor was on to something there.
Capitalism produces the wealth that the socialist want to spend. Socialism destroys the concept of wealth creation and as such destroys any future wealth...thus plunging the society into poverty. What little happiness is left over goes to the most ruthless of rulers.
“I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook’s, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we’ve become completely blind to it. “
Enjoy it while it lasts, because it is not going to. There is a great reckoning coming for the post-Christian, pagan, decadent West.
Trump is doing his best but after he leaves... le deluge.
” We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we’ve become completely blind to it.”
So true.
Their material riches blind them. Associated avarice and envy make them bitter and delusional.
Thanks for turning me on to Alpha News.
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