As if it was not already readily obvious, I am a relatively conservative individual when it comes to politics. Not surprisingly, not everyone at work shares that particular viewpoint on the world… One man, in particular, I would qualify as a "flaming liberal"… Mainly because he seems to be of the unshakeable belief that all Republicans should die, simply due to their being Republicans. I am honestly never entirely sure if he is serious or not (either way, he sincerely believes it would help the country, and has the unshakeable belief that Democratic presidents have been the saviors of the country, while Republican ones… well, you figure it out), but it definitely tends to make me file him under the "radical" heading. However, most of the time we are able to overlook/work around/ignore some of his more radical rantings, and get down to some thoroughly interesting debates… They have certainly served to keep me awake countless times when I would have otherwise been flat-out unconscious (but in a position where being asleep would probably be rather bad for my job prospects).
One such debate today revolved around the concept of governmental "hand-out" programs, such as welfare, and how they are good for the society as a whole (at least in his opinion). Needless to say, I hold a somewhat differing opinion, but I realized today, during the course of our debate, just why that is the case.
Consider, for a moment, the country of the United States of America. Founded only a scant 230 years ago (which, in the grand scheme of countries in this world, is a remarkably short time), America has blasted its way to being ranked as the strongest, most influential, leading nation of the world. Our economy is one of the best (and getting stronger on a daily basis, I would point out… so Bush is bad for the economy, eh?); our military has no equal; we have lead the way in countless scientific and technological fields over the years; people are literally breaking local, regional, national, and international laws on a daily basis to enter this country to work and/or live; our laws and governmental constructs have been used as examples for developing democracies and republics around the world; our citizens enjoy some of the highest number of freedoms in the world; we have one of the highest per-capita GNIs in the world; and the list could just keep going on. The question becomes, "Why is this the case?" Why is it that countries that have been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years longer than America are suddenly dwarfed by this newcomer to the international arena?
The short answer? America was founded by bastards.
Yes, I did just say that, and I will say it again – The United States of America was founded by people who, in this "modern" day and age, would be qualified as certifiable bastards. Face it – our country was created by a random amalgamation of penal colonists, social rejects, governmental malcontents, religious radicals, dreamers, shapers, shakers, wanderers, explorers, thinkers… In short, people who not only broke the mold of "normal", but stomped on the pieces on their way out. Upset you a little with that comment, did I? Caused you to stop and think a little? Good. Because without those "bastards" of yore, this country would not be as great as it is now. Even though all of those people came from different backgrounds, different reasons, different genetics, different beliefs, different countries, they all had one, unifying element in common – the wanted something more. Not only did they want something more, they wanted something greater, something larger, something better than what they had. It is that desire that caused them to come to this wide open land of promise when they did (and that same desire, I will point out, that is continuing to drive people towards America), and also what continued to drive them to not only create this country, but also build it into the powerhouse it is today.
Why did those people want something better for themselves, their families, their children, and even those around them? I could not venture to guess… it could be genetics, it could be societal, or it could just be old-fashioned orneriness. But it happened, and boy did it. Those people came here by the thousands, the hundreds of thousands, sometimes with nothing more than the threadbare clothes on their backs, all just for the promise of having even the opportunity of making something better of their lives. There were no guarantees. More than a few of the people who made the long, arduous trek to America failed miserably. But there was always the hope… always the chance. Always the belief that a lot of hard work and a little faith would be all that it would take for a relative nobody to make it good in this wide open new country. And that belief obviously held true in more than just a few cases.
An interesting thing happened due to, or perhaps in spite of, this drive, though. A lot of those people, if not most of them, came to America for purely self-serving reasons – they wanted something better for themselves, or someone immediately important to them. Oftentimes, groups came over for the betterment of the entire organization, but there was still that sense of selfishness, now applied to the abstract "individual" of a group, as opposed to its elements. Honest-to-God philanthropy, short of limited amounts provided by any of the number of religious sects that crossed the oceans to America, was rare and hard to find, and governmental support was all-but non-existent. It sold land and supplies for cheap, certainly, but it was not about to just randomly give you money just because. And yet these hard-charging, work-their-asses-off, damn-the-old-way-of-doing-things-I’m-doing-it-my-way people somehow managed to come together in communities and groups, and not only build a successful country based on their own blood, sweat, and tears, but keep it great, and keep making it better.
Where am I going with all this nonsense? Well, at this point in America’s history, I would venture to say that the bastard-like drive of its citizens to better themselves, and by association those around them, is terminally ill, and in some serious need of medical attention. The drive to better ourselves, our families, and those around us has all but disappeared from the social (if not genetic) structure of the average American citizen. Instead, we have developed into a society of some Frankenstein’s-monster hybrid sheep-mooches – the government should support us, should hold our hands, should decide what to do with our money, should tell us what we can watch/read/listen to, etc. etc. etc.
Think I am wrong? Consider what the individual I mentioned at the beginning of this post would like to have happen – he seriously wants himself (and everyone else, of course) to be taxed more just to support people who may not be as economically well-off as he (or other people) are. First, yes, there are certain individuals within the bounds of any group or society who simply cannot care for themselves, due to a variety of mental or physical reasons, and it is additionally rare that their families are capable of easily supporting them as well. For those people, I believe an exception should be made to what I am about to say. However, for everyone else out there… bugger that! What did those people do to earn that money this man wants to just outright give them? What did they do to actually make that money, make it mean something to them? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He simply wants the money given to them because he knows he would otherwise waste it on frivolities. So, simply because he cannot exert self control over himself, he would rather that some increasingly-larger government come in and tell him, and everyone else, just how to spend their own money, and turn around and give that money to people who did absolutely nothing to deserve it.
First, one thing at a time. Something earned without effort is meaningless. There is absolutely no way around that very basic tenet of human nature, and even though we have become a give-me-now, feel-good, instant-gratification kind of culture, it still holds true on a daily basis. So randomly giving people money just for the sake of giving them money will result in those funds meaning completely nothing to them – those people did nothing to earn it, so it has no real intrinsic value. Sure, they will use it to potentially better their positions in life, feed their families, etc. However, they will, in all likelihood, have absolutely no motivation to do anything more. I mean, look at it – the government would just give them money for no apparent reason… why on God’s Green Earth would they work for it when it is simply being handed to them? Now, I am assuming that the funds provided to these individuals would be sufficient to live off of, yes… But even if they are not, it is still a sizeable portion of their income that they would not be earning, and could always fall back upon if necessary. It still has absolutely no meaning, and still provides them no motivation to do anything better for themselves. Case in point: I am a hell of a lot more fit and in-shape than I was a year ago, and I worked my sorry, skinny (and now very tight) little butt off to do it. My wife commenting and complementing me on it has made it all completely worth it, however. But if this new body of mine was simply granted to me overnight… it would be cool, yeah, at least momentarily, but I would have no drive to maintain it, no previous experience in doing so (and thus even less of a drive to work on it), and people complementing me on it would be all but meaningless.
Second, despite so many other people’s beliefs to the contrary, the government should not be, never was intended to be, and never should be your bloody hand-holding nanny. Period. End of story. No further debate. And, that kind of hand-holding also includes telling you how to spend, appropriate, and otherwise dispense of your money. If you, as an individual, decide that some other individual, or group of individuals, is deserving of your money without any effort on their part, more power to you. It has often been said that giving is so much better than receiving, or even earning. Give it a few shots from time to time, and see what happens. However, that kind of situation should be entirely your choice, not the choice of those around you forcing you to give the money, and not the choice of some uncaring government doing it just to appease some electoral group. The government is there for a variety of reasons… national defense, international agreements and treaties, education, etc. But running a charity is not one of them.
Wonder where I am going with all of this? Well, instead, have you ever wondered why our country seems to be sliding down the international rankings on an almost yearly basis? The short and sweet version – we have lost that strain of bastardism that initially built this country, and made it great. Our mean, do-it-ourselves, build-things-ourselves-and-revel-in-our-accomplishments streak has evaporated in the face of people realizing that they can simply stick their hands out, pout a little (or scream at their politicians, in this particular case), and exist without making any efforts towards it at all. This country is on the verge of full-blown stagnation, and what is sad is that we not only did it to ourselves, we asked for it.
How do we fix it? I honestly do not know… but something has to be done soon. We have to rediscover that which made us initially such a great nation, and somehow re-harness it to our purposes, or face becoming a country of lazy, spoon-fed children, looked down upon and pitied by the rest of the world, rather than the current, head-of-the-game position we enjoy. I dunno about you, but I would rather not be second-place to the competition we have these days…
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