The Spirit of Karl Marx is alive and well in Tennessee

email exchange ^ | 11/19/01 | Rep. Chris Clem (R-TN)

[tdadams]

This was an email exchange (forwarded to me) between Jacob Holt, a student at Middle Tennessee State Univeristy and state Rep. Chris Clem. Clem's response is classic. I wish more legislators had the chutzpah to answer their socialist constituents this way.

I have deleted the domain names in each email. I don't want to subject either of these people to a deluge of FReepmail. The messages have been left intact; formatting, spelling, and grammer have not been corrected.

[rickmoe]

God I love TENN. I only wish SC was more like it.

[VoodooEconomics]

"Liberty shall vanish when the electorate learns to vote themselves money from the public purse."

[MurryMom]

"Liberty shall vanish when the electorate learns to vote themselves money from the public purse."

Liberty has already vanished, with little Dumbya and his Repukies henchmen in the HR voting to gift 14 corporate donors with over $7 billion in tax rebates, based upon a 9/11 pretext.

[Waco]

And, never forget, 25-50% of stae and local revenue is grafted off. (National averages.)

[Chick-with-a-brain]

I can see they don't require knowledge of grammar as an entrance requirement to MSTU.

[Yardstick]

Great post -- Rep. Clem's response warms my heart. I graduated from MTSU just under two years ago and I must say that I didn't see students being "hurt" by the so-called budget crisis. When I left they had just completed a new library and a new Aerospace building -- both of which are very nice -- and they're currently doing some major landscaping and other renovations to the campus. I just don't see the source of this punk's misery. And it takes some serious gaul to feel "hurt" when Tennessee taxpayers are paying three-fourths of your college tuition for you.

[massadvj]

Dear Jacob:

Very clearly, you are the product of cradle-to-grave therapeutic government. You might be surprised to learn that this country was built by people whose primary motivation was to help themselves, and who would have no compunction in telling you so. It is being destroyed by people whose primary motivation is also to help themselves, but who do so by claiming to want to help you. You being the product of the system these domestic money-grubbing extortionists have created, how can the rest of us be surprised that you now expect other people to live your life for you?

Jacob, I hate to tell you this -- especially knowing what a shock it is going to be to you -- but there is no such thing as a free lunch. Nor should there be. The best possible system is one in which those who want an education earn it; because if an education is just handed to you, then you will have no appreciation for it. You will spend most of your time being a drunken frat rat at taxpayers' expense rather than learning how you can be a productive member of society who makes a real contribution. Jacob, as a taxpayer, I'm tired of subsidizing frat rats, especially since so many of them get passed along by liberal arts professors who refuse to hold them to a standard, and then they end up teaching our children in the public schools (or designing tail fins on airlines), and the cycle of codependency continues.

So here is what I suggest you do. Get a job. Go to school. Stop playing video games and hanging out with your friends. I have a surprise for you. Any kid who can master the typical video game today can understand advanced statistics. It's just a question of motivation. Stop expecting the government to live your life for you.

Jacob old buddy, thanks to our socialist system, there are now two types of people in America and the chasm between them is growing. There are those who give to this country more than they receive from it. And then there are those who take more from the country than they will ever give to it. The leeches are rewarded in our society by media and politicians who pander to them in order to maintain power. The doers never get any thanks. So maybe it's better to be the second type. But then, you have to live with yourself.

So it is time. It's time for you to decide which type of person you are going to be.

[jimt]

But trillions in transfer payments to 'rat constituents is much more palatable, right?

Haven't seen you often enough, MurryMom.

[gjenkins]

"But trillions in transfer payments to 'rat constituents is much more palatable, right?"

They are both wrong.

[Alabama_Wild_Man]

I guess that we have a new 'Lead' in the upcoming production of "Jacob The Liar".

[D. Miles]

Someone tell Jacob to go to Phil Valentine.com and click on TN Tax, he'll see 14 pages of cuts, ridding TN government of duplication spending ect. he'll quickly see, we do not need, nor do we WANT and income tax.

[Coopertown Bob]

Jacob is terribly misguided in his questioning. Instead, he should be asking the MTSU administration and the TBR (Tennessee Board of Regents) the following question. Since the current "Bare Bones" budget the state is operating under, fully funded ALL education requests at 100%, WHY was it necessary to raise tuition an additional 15%? But then, that is exactly what I would expect from a group who would hire a man, not even qualified enough to make the top ten list of recommended candidates, (he placed 12th) but who happened to be the highest ranking man of the correct race (black) on the list. This was at a time when MTSU and the TBR were under a lot of pressure from that well known bastion of modern day racism, the NAACP because of a plaque that was mounted on the wall out back of the University Center. Who was the man on the plaque? Nathan Bedford Forrest, who happened to be from the area. Does this mean that they (TBR and MTSU)will also use all their political muscle to keep a plaque of Joel Spingarn off of campus walls as well? (For my white brothers, he founded and was the first leader of the NAACP) My personal opinion, they are all a bunch of greedy bastards who think they know what is better for me than I do. One more thing, I am an MTSU alum, unfortunately. The liberals in control there did not like me very much as I always called them on their B.S. liberalistic, bigoted, racist and intolerant views. Gee, makes me want to return to work on that masters I keep saying I am going to get one day. . .

[aposiopetic]

comments?

[MHGinTN]

I can only shake my head! Liberalism is a disease that needs irradication. This Jacob boy has a mind full of liberal mush, fueled to half by public education. The NAALCP used to have 'a mind is a terrible thing to waste' as their motto. wsell, they've succeeded in stunting enough other minds to accomplish their socialist agendas. It's sad, but what's a body to do? This kid threatens to vote for something, anything, but I'd be surprised if he's got the interest to actually atke the time away from his pleasures to cast that ballot. Fortunately, not enough of his socialist ilk voted to get Gore the TN electoral votes! I'm seriously hoping they stay asleep through the next eight years, so we the people can take back this republic from the criminal enterprise democrat party and boot out enough pubbies who're just filling space for the power rush.

[Old Professer]

That's the wrong gall unless you(he) have(has) a French liver.

[Fraulein]

The Spirit of Karl Marx is alive and well in Tennessee

Yes, it's called Vanderbilt University.

[tdadams]

Vanderbilt embodies the spirit of Marx? I have to respectfully disagree. I've lived a stone's throw from Vanderbilt for 10 years, and am regularly on campus for business. Thankfully, the spirit of Adam Smith lives there more than that of Marx.

[Yardstick]

Your write!