"If, when you are young, you are not a Liberal - you haven't got a heart. And by the time you reach 40, if you are not a conservative - you haven't got a brain."
I would like to edit that. Mine would read:
If you when you are young and CHILDLESS, you are not a Liberal - you haven't got a heart. If after having CHILDREN you have not come to your senses - you haven't got a brain."
"Atlas Shrugged" is the LIBERTARIAN'S bible. There is but a small sliver of us left in the Republican party, I'll call it the New Hampshire wing, and we despise the Wacko Wing as much as the Dem elite do.
I got a bunch of emails from folks recently and from reading your comments I get the sense that most of you do not have children (if I am wrong, please don't beat me over the head and shoulders).
I do NOT feel it is "only fair" to pay more and more in taxes. It is EASY to be a "peace, love and charity flower child" when the only mouth you have to feed is your own, and/or if you come from a well educated family of privilege (actually, ESPECIALLY more so). It is quite another when you are the sole provider for a family of 4,5, 6, etc... ESPECIALLY if, on top of that, you are the scion of the Spam and Velveta experience...
Just TRY and provide a home, a couple of cars, HEALTH INSURANCE, life insurance, savings, private school tuition, music lessons, karate lessons, trips to Yellowstone and Disney etc... for a family of 5 in the U.S. on $250k per year. Yes, I KNOW FIRST HAND that many families do not have these privileges. It seems some are suggesting that guys like me that broke out of the Spam and Velveta bracket should be somehow HONORED to hand over the resources with which I provide for my family to President Hope, Madam Botox, and Senate Majority Leader Viagra. Step into my shoes for a moment, then come to me and tell me about having a real life and how you feel about government confiscating half your paycheck.
(If you haven't a family to worry about and provide for, it is going to be hard for you to relate. When I was young, I was decidedly "pro-choice". After seeing my children on an ultrasound at 12 weeks into my wife's pregnancy I came to a very different conclusion - one that included that I had been manipulated by a political Special Interest Group that felt that a mother's convenience was more important than a human life - and I felt like an idiot. I am not trying to raise the abortion debate, you have to live with yourself on that one, only that people's views evolve.)
My response: I am "GOING GALT".
Mentatt (at) yahoo (d0t) com
19 comments:
...another addled vowel movement from the keyboard of Greg Jeffers.
Perhaps. Or perhaps your wonderful economy of words is merely a belch with the stench of regret.
But please feel free to expound upon your ideas. Nothing more fun than debating with the left over's of 1970's childless' feminists. Yet it is much like having a duel with an unarmed opponent - just too easy.
Still, I wonder why you continue to follow my Blog? Is it because you need someone at which to direct your hate? You bought those political sensibilities, and now you must accept ownership.
I sympathize, but your anger should be directed elsewhere.
Handing over any hard earned money is never nice, especially when you see what the government does with it most of the time, but it seems that ultimately you pay for health care one way or another, either privately, or through taxes. Fairness doesn't seem to have much to do with it, it's just something you have to deal with one way or another.
Having children of course changes the equation, and not having any, I wouldn't be so presumptuous as to assume to know what that was like. I will let you know in a few years, if the power is still on.
The ability to go Galt through having a farm is a Privilege it seems like you have earned through years of hard graft, and if things dont fall apart as fast it it seems they will and I had longer to save and perhaps less tax to pay, I would try to do it myself.
Liberals, democrats, socialists, republicans, conservatives whatever, they all seem full of shit and like polarized caricatures of themselves. At the end of the day everyone wants to make the best of what they've got, most people have essentially similar dreams and aspirations, the same basic needs and these artificial labels make it harder through dividing rather than bringing people together.
Well said Mr. Jeffers, every word is the truth.
Why do I get the feeling this daily message was mostly directed at little ol' me? :)
Alright, let's get this straight ...
1) I am hopelessly single, and so far I like it that way. I'm a minimalist, so I don't need very much.
2) I decided to find out what it is like to have children, and since I'm a bleeding heart liberal, I figure I probably deserved it anyway. So, I decided to adopt my niece and nephew (they just happen to live with their parents), and also adopt FOUR younger Mexican-American friends who figured out long ago what the phrase "single Federal employee" meant.
3) Since then, I have funded the first year of college for the niece and nephew (I think), and have spent tens of thousands of dollars on my Mex friends (and in one case, his sisters): college payments, short-term loans, used cars, computers, restaurants, feeding their families, Blue Cross, lots of beer and a first investment in MCD (he drinks a lot of McDonalds coke).
4) I am HUGELY aware of the massive financial wants and needs of these unappreciative, non-communicational, lazy, sloppy, disappointing jerk kids/teens that I didn't get to participate in the joy of even MAKING! :)
5) But, like I'm sure Jeffers will confirm, I remember a time without them (the 1990s, when I accumulated sooo much mutual fund $$$). And I don't want to go back there.
Now, as to the taxes ...
I hate taxes. I spent this morning trying to get back my "gassification credit" that I somehow found last year.
But if you're going to agree that certain Federal spending is indeed essential (social security, medicare/medicaid, paying bond interest, Defense etc. etc. -- 80% of the budget) and I think we all agree that this has to be spent, THEN YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR IT! The $30 million for the railroad museum in Pennsylvania is CHICKEN FEED! Look at the dollars, not the pennies. Someone has to pay, and if not now, then with the overall losses that the required borrowing creates.
Born circa 1980. No kids, and no plans to have them. Here are my thoughts on the matter, as it pertains to the national situation and personal situations:
Look at the way the media demonized the lady with 8 kids. Two
generations ago it was perfectly fine to have a large family. Now it
makes you a circus freak. It's a change in social mood that
discourages the population growth we need to continue the American
story, as we know it.
I don't know any young families having kids, other than the ones so
irresponsible they live with their parents. The people I know are so
crushed by their mortgage nut they don't have a spare dime left. Nor
do they have time for kids because they are both working. House
prices need to fall about 50pc from current levels to make raising a
family a part of the budget - even in CA where 450k homes are bank
owned for 200k in the middle class neighborhoods. In NY especially.
"liberals, democrats, socialists, republicans, conservatives whatever, they all seem full of shit and like polarized caricatures of themselves. At the end of the day everyone wants to make the best of what they've got, most people have essentially similar dreams and aspirations,"
Amen to that portion of your comment. I do not think there is such a thing as "bringing people together", with the glaring exception of war - and that is achieved only under threat of force.
I have much to say on the subject you raise in your comments, and I look forward to your very rational commentary.
Thanks!
Perhaps it's not so much about bringing people together, but more about understanding. For example, I lived in America and had people say to me they hate the French but I have some really great French friends. I have heard some French people say they hate the Americans, but I have some good American friends, I lived in Italy where people said the English sucked but I am English and know many great English people. I am Marrying a German girl and for much of this century the Germans and English killed millions of each other as they thought they were enemies. The Germans are by far the warmest hearted people i have had the pleasure to live amongst. In all of the places I have lived I have met many good people and bad people, but they pretty much ALL cross over stereotypes when you manage to connect with them on a personal level. The same applies to Rich or poor, party affiliation, religion or color of the skin. I have much more to say on this subject too but this reply is getting a little long!
oOOo:
Rational, intelligent comments are rarely too long.
Even when folks disagree, reasonable co-examination of the issues are interesting and enlightening.
Then there are the dim witted individuals that bore one to tears - take the first comment on this page. Aside from nasty and insulting, the commenter wasn't even original. A "vowel movement". Wow, never heard that one before...
oOOo:
Lastly. The line "hard graft". Nice strike, but below the belt.
Jeff, I'm asking this seriously and not nastily.
Do Libertarians in general and specifically you know that most people who read Ayn Rand find it really cool between the ages of 15 and 20. But most move on and look back on their encounters with John Galt as a phase. An early one.
Are you aware of that?
Do you read other books?
Have you read other books?
You flunked the Candide test in the latest post, so I know you haven't read that.
If you really decide to go all John Galt on us, take along some Cormac McCarthy. "No Country For Old Men" and "The Road" are good for starters.
Learn about narcissism, especially adolescent male narcissim. Read the myth. Read about the psychology. It looks like you have children who are or will be adolescent males.
Good skills for the trading floor, no so much for life. Pass on that difference to your children.
Have more fun in school.
a librul
Sorry I didn't mean hard graft as insulting, or having any hidden meaning, its just a term we use in england for hard work.
Dear Anon @ 5:54:
Have I read other books?
Why are you so insulting? "Flunked Candide" You f***** wrote Candice (my ex's name, and her family is from Brooklyn, as was the poster).
My brother:
If you are in fact better read than I, blessings on you. Though I doubt it, unless you work in academia that is - then you might have me.
Think maybe you took me a little too literally when I said I was "Going Galt"? I mean that in the disincentive to work to produce income in excess of $250k.
What pompous, asinine comment.
Actually, this is Standard Operating Procedure in our political discussion.
Anybody who disagrees with your group's holy cow/grail is "stupid".
To be fair, the "going galt" randroid concept is the adolescent version of taking your marbles and going home when the game starts to turn out not the way one expects.
Rand was a fascist nut case, an alcoholic, a megalomaniac, and a self-contradicting wanna-be demagogue all rolled into one.
Need advice about your latest megalomaniacal scheme? If only you could ask history's greatest megalomaniac, "novelist" and "philosopher" Ayn Rand. Too bad she's dead. But wait! In 1963, a secret cabal of Objectivists intent on taking over the Student Union at MIT built the first robotic Ayn Rand, and now you can own a Randroid® based on their original design. Comes with stock phrases such as "Morality ends where the gun begins," "Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent," and "Nathaniel! Bring me another gin and tonic!"
Price: US$50,000 includes software*
*software tends to be rather buggy. For instance, your Randroid may oppose immigration, yet be an immigrant herself. She may oppose infidelity, yet cheat on her husband. She may espouse individuality, yet believe that only those who follow her cult are individuals. She may oppose the control of individuals by organizations, yet laud corporate power. These bugs can not be
Pure adolescent propaganda.
Robert
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