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Read, read, read. Read everything - trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the mast. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window. -- William Faulkner
I grew up in Sioux City, Iowa, in the 1970's. I learned that it's not okay for me to walk on other people's lawns - it's not my yard. I learned that it's not okay for me to take answers from another student during a test - I'm responsible for my own answers. I learned that if it's not mine, I shouldn't touch it. I don't have a right to other people's things. That's what private property is. Isn't America a place where we teach our kids to respect other people's things?
Respecting others' private property is a simple rule, and one that leads to peace, frankly. If I try to take something that isn't mine, like your blender or your iPod or your shoes, you'll get angry. And you should. Those are yours. If I take them, you feel insecure and violated. We have laws against that, and we prosecute people for these violations of privacy.
Do we want a society where private property rights are not respected? Where what you earn and what you have in your life is public domain?
Our next question is from Matt from Iowa: "If your desire is to spread the wealth around, what incentive is there for me to try to work hard? If I am only going to get more taken away from me, the more money I make, why wouldn't I just slide into a life of relaxation and let rich people take care of me? And a lot of people are asking similar questions, and I wanted you to specify. What does this mean exactly?"
Obama: What is amazing to me is this whole notion that somehow everybody is just looking out for themselves. I mean, the fact is, we just talked about student loans. When young people who have the drive and the skill to go to college can't afford to go to college, how do you think we pay for scholarships or loan programs? That money doesn't grow on trees. It's got to come from somewhere, and the attitude that I have is that, if we want to grow our economy, the way it grows is from the bottom up. You don't just give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires. What you do is make sure the tax code is fair. I want to give a tax cut to 95 percent of working Americans, but in order to pay for that, I'm going to take the tax rates back to what they were in the 1990s for people who are making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year. Now for people who are making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year, if they are paying 2 or 3 percent higher in taxes, the notion that they're somehow going to stop working, or that this young man is going to not want to be successful, that just doesn't make any sense. Back in the 1990s, we created more millionaires, more billionaires, because the economy was growing, everything was strong, at every income bracket, people were doing well. So this idea, that somehow everybody is just on their own and shouldn't be concerned about other people who are coming up behind them, that's the kind of attitude that I want to end when I am president.
Obama just told millions of young people that if they don't have what they need, it's okay to take from others. "It's got to come from somewhere," he reasons. "Chump change" is what he calls what he takes from others.
So, do you believe in private property?
I believe in giving, by the way. I'm building a portal to help non-profits receive more donations and I'm giving that effort to LocalsGive.com to help the community. Free of charge. Hundreds of hours of time has gone toward this and I won't get a penny in return. I'm okay with that. I believe in what I'm doing.
While I believe strongly in giving, I don't believe in taking. Giving is a voluntary act. Taking is not. Taking is morally and fundamentally wrong.
Do you disagree?
If you vote for Obama, yours is a vote that disrespects property rights. Watch carefully how his calling the protection of one's private property "selfish" affects our youth. I know of young people who are gleeful about this. They're excited that they won't have to work as hard. Is that America, a place where people celebrate laziness? Growing up, I learned the value of hard work. How is Obama teaching modelling responsibility? Accountability? Merit? Does that matter to you?
It's not okay to take from others. For Obama to introduce the straw man of "somehow everybody is just on their own and shouldn't be concerned about other people who are coming up behind them" is ridiculous on its face. I don't know anyone who doesn't believe in helping others where they can. Nor does he. Obama is only trying to justify his confiscation of other people's private property.
If you vote for him, you agree with him. Which is why I think he'll lose tomorrow. I still have faith in American values.
I'm 100% for people helping people. Just keep the government out of it or we the people lose all control.
As for the video. Some people are just lazy and stupid.
Posted by Kelly, 11/3/2008 3:24:12 PM
I've quoted Ron White before and will do so again. "You can't fix stupid." It is impossible to debate someone like this. It isn't a race issue, its an intelligence issue. I've caught more heat pointing out the stupidity of Obama followers, but I'm at a loss for a better word and have no patience for political correctness.
I too have faith in american values, I just don't know if there are enough of us left to pull us thru tomorrow.
Posted by Pale Rider, 11/3/2008 5:01:18 PM
Great post Brett. The irony is that delegating charity to the Government is the ultimate in lazy. The more the givernment sees it's role as charity the less folks will give - "I pay my taxes, I do my part." So the danger is on both sides - not just from de-motivating the receivers but also de-motivating the givers.
In essence by supporting these kind of policies we are stating that Government is better than private charities of meeting needs. We are outsourcing charity to the Government - the inference her is that Government is better and people need to be compelled - through force - to be generous.
Posted by Rich, 11/3/2008 8:25:09 PM
You're so right, Rich. We can't phone in our philanthropy by offloading it to the government.
