[JohnHuang2]

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

Quote of the Day by detective

[nickcarraway]

A lot of socialists are rich people.

[mrustow]

'Anyone who criticizes the rich is engaging in class war' -- what a tired cliche that is. I learned everything I know about class warfare from the well-to-do. The fact that socialists at DU bash the rich, doesn't mean that people get rich through virtue. A lazy, trust-fund-kid cousin of mine said naively of our common ancestor's wealth, "He
worked hard." If that were so, half the world would be rich! Money makes money; money helps money; money marries money.

[mrustow]

"Class warfare" should have read, "class hatred."

[ThePythonicCow]

The fundamental confusion of liberals, rich or poor, is the confusion of big authority organizations, such as the Federal Government or Large Corporations, with parents.

They may resent, envy, hate and distrust "them", as a rebellious teenager might - which is what this article captures. Tney may want just want "them" to "take care of everything", which is the so called compassionate side of liberalism. They may cheer on anyone who seems to be standing up to "them", such as tyrants and terrorists.

Some liberals grow up and become responsible adults. Some die first. Meanwhile, they are fertile ground for greedy, manipulative power seekers, which are a disease of society that feeds on its immature members. The danger of rat poop is not so much the poop, but the disease that feeds on it. The danger of liberals is not so much the liberal, who is child-like, but the tyrants who feed on them, such as Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Saddam, Klintoon & Hitlary, bin Laden, many currently atop the DemoRat party, ...

[GOP_Raider]

It is truly amazing that a system such as Marxism is still embraced by half-wits in America even after being so discredited for so long. If it were fiction it would be comical.

MCCARTHY WAS RIGHT!!!

[chimera]

The truth is that there will always be hard working, honest people who end up with little in material terms, and others who are lazy and end up with a lot. Likewise, as noted on this thread and in the article, there will be hardworking folks who make out okay in the end, and lazy ones who end up bitter and disillusioned with little to show for a lifetime. IOW, there will be all kinds. Big duh there, I know, but what is important is what an individual does with one's circumstances. Do you spend your time wallowing in envy of others and self pity and perpetuate the cycle of underachievement for yourself and drag others around you down with you, or do you make an effort to rise above your circumstances?

My sense is that Boorz has a problem with those who waste time complaining about the success of others instead of at least trying to make things better for themselves. There is no guarantee that hard work will result in accumulation of material wealth, but it at least gives you a chance to better yourself. Being envious of others certainly is a receipe for personal and societal failure.

My father worked himself to death at a relatively early age trying to build a better life for his family. He always told me not to waste time complaining, but to be good enough to get into the group I wanted to be in. That meant hard work for me and my siblings getting an education and then working our way up the career ladder. Are we "rich" today? The DUers and Hillary (a very rich person in the material sense) and Gephardt probably would say so, but I don't think so. I drive an '88 Nissan with regular wheels and have a 3-bedroom tract home in the burbs. So not rich in a material sense, but we do alright. But I consider myself rich in a spiritual sense, because my folks taught me the value of honesty and effort and the desire to better oneself and build a future for my children. That is more valuable to me than worrying about how well others may be doing.

[Centurion2000]

bump ....

[struggle]

i understand a bit what he is talking about. i used to be a normal english teacher here in japan earning 2500$ a month for 25 hrs. of work. a problem arose and i was fired from my job. i promptly moved from the country to kyoto and now make 40$ an hour teaching at an university. i love my job and i have met and married the most wonderful woman in the world. i dont think im rich, but we make enough to eat out every night and drink together in kyoto (not that we do). its amazing the opportunities that God has provided us and we, being only 26 years old make a combined income of about 60,000+ a year. it's silly that people whine about the wealthy. my father loves his job, makes 100,000+ a year, and is a well respected man. those people who think that living poor is a good thing only do it because they have no ambition and cheat themselves from enjoying their job and life.

[XJarhead]

I catch a lot of flak for my constant references to the Democratic Party as the Democratic Socialist Party. Maybe I can quell some of the dissension by telling you some of the postings I have read on Democratic Underground recently.

Just to stay intellectually honest here....

Not every Democrat subscribes to the views expressed by DU. DU is basically a website for liberal Dem activists -- that's a minority of the party. A pretty influential one, and one that often tries to steer the rest of their throng blindly to a socialist agenda, but still a minority.

Anyway, the point is that we should be careful before linking all Dems to DU, because we may end up looking like we are attacking a strawman to the extent the particular Dem doesn't subscribe to DU. It'd be a bit like citing to FR as the cornerstone of Republican beliefs.

[Myrddin]

Thanks to each of you for the kind comments. When I was elementary school age, my mom always chewed me out for not finishing what I started. When I joined Boy Scouts, I determined to fix that problem. I made Eagle Scout. Earning each merit badge was taught me how to take on a project with a set of requirements and complete them to the satisfaction of the customer (the merit badge counselor). It is a behavior pattern that matches the working world very nicely. The skills required for each of the badges are good life lessons too. A fellow scout encouraged me to join his DeMolay chapter. That too was a good experience in leadership skills. For those familiar with the organization, I sign the guestbooks with KT RD PMC at social functions for those organizations. Cheers!

[Porterville]

Liberals believe that they have a right to have anything they want, Conservatives believe that they have to earn their right.

[Mo1]

I got this in an email from my FIL


Subj: The truth about taxes

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner.
The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

the first four men-the poorest-would pay nothing;
the fifth would pay $1:
the sixth would pay $3;
the seventh $7;
the eighth $12;
the ninth$18.
the tenth man-the richest-would pay $59.

That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement-until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20."
So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six-the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33.
But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being *paid* to eat their meal.

So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59.

Each of the six was better off than before.
And the first four continued to eat for free.
But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth. "But he got $7!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!" "That's true!" shouted the seventh man.
"Why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all.
The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They were $52 short!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax system works.
The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction.
Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.
Unfortunately, Liberals cannot grasp this straight-forward logic!

[The Raven]

What do socialist do with rich people when they get ultimate power?

They kill them.

They killed them in Cambodia, in China, in the USSR.

By the millions!!

All is explained in "The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature" and "Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism"

[snopercod]

Your poverty couldn't possibly have anything to do with your decision to forego college for that great job at the mall.

No, my poverty has to do with the fact that I DID go to college and earn an engineering degree when I should have taken that job at the mall. There's really no great demand in post-modern America for people who know how to design and build things any more...

[copycat]

Pretty true, John. There's one other facet that jumps to mind about socialists.

With their do-gooder causes firmly in mind, socialists ALWAYS know how to spend your money better than you do.