History Repeats Itself
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Loading ...I don’t know about my fellow readers but I personally enjoy reading a good analogy or two when one is trying to get a point across. Not only does it make the piece much more interesting, it also educates the audience on the issues that some may not have otherwise understood or even been interested in. Some of my most profound political and philosophical epiphanies came to me while reading analogies and I would like to share some of that content with you. I chose some analogies that are quite mainstream and (of course) had to put my own spin on them. Please enjoy…
On the stimulus issue…
Three contractors are bidding to repair damaged siding at the White House. One is from Michigan, another is from Wyoming and the third is from New York.
All three accompany a White House official to examine the damaged siding. The Michigan contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works out some figures with a pencil. “Well,” he says, “I figure the job will run about $1,000: $500 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me.”
The Wyoming contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, “I can do this job for $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me.”
The New York contractor doesn’t measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, “$3,700.” The official, incredulous, says, “You didn’t even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?”
The New York contractor whispers back, “$1,000 for me, $1,000 for you, and we hire the guy from Wyoming to fix the siding.”
“Done!” replies the government official.
And that, folks, is how the new stimulus plan will work in a nutshell.
Let’s move on to redistribution of wealth (my favorite subject to hate):
A father calls up his daughter hoping to catch up and see how college is going. The daughter immediately goes into a rant about how much she can’t stand her roommate because she sleeps all day and parties all night and she is still passing with a 2.0 GPA.
“She is barely scraping by and she is still going to pass, how is that fair when I am busting my butt to get all A’s and studying every night?”
Assuring his daughter that she is doing a great job, he asks how her classes are going. She excitedly goes into what she’s been learning from her (bleeding heart liberal) professor .
“Dad, if everyone were to pitch in a few dollars all over America, we could get the homeless off of the streets and everything would be fair and equal!”
Not surprised, the father (a heartless republican) listens patiently while she verbally solves America’s problems with socialism. The father then goes on to say “Honey, maybe the university should consider redistributing some of your grade points to your roommate so you can both be ‘equal’”.
“But dad, that’s not fair! I earned those grade points!”.
“Yes you did, and it would NOT be fair for the university to redistribute grade points since you earned it. Working Americans earned their money just like you earned your GPA. How is it fair for the government to redistribute their hard-earned income to those who didn’t earn it?”
The next day, the daughter transferred out of Miss Messiah’s class.
Which political system would you say we are currently in? The sad thing is, most probably can’t answer that question with absolute certainty since the government is telling us one thing and doing another. The Cow Analogy does a pretty good job of summing it up…
FEUDALISM: You have two cows. Your lord takes all of the milk.
FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them and sells you the milk.
DICTATORSHIP: You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you.
COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both of them and shoots you.
PURE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk.
ANARCHY: You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to take the cows and kill you.
CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You start a business as a dairy farm, save up the money and buy two bulls. You can buy or sell the cows or the bulls as you see fit since you earned it.
PURE SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes one and redistributes it to others who don’t have a cow. You can do anything you want with your one cow as long as you follow a list of regulations a mile long and pay 11% taxes from the milk profits that you earn which in turn is redistributed to other farmers who are not making as much income on their milk.
ROMAN EMPIRE: You get tired of working hard to earn money for others who do nothing and reap the benefits. You quit working and let other hard workers pay your wage.
FREE-FOR-ALL REVOLUTION: You get tired of working hard to earn money for others who do nothing. You quit paying taxes, and tell your hard-working neighbors to quit paying taxes, shoot the idiots who want what you have but did nothing to earn it and the economy implodes so everyone must work hard to earn what they have or they don’t eat. Period.
I might add that the last two scenarios actually have happened in the history of our civilation. The “Roman Empire” fell because of socialism - those who worked and paid taxes funded those who did not work and did not pay taxes. Those who worked decided it was not worth working since they could get a paycheck from the government doing nothing. when no one worked, there was no longer any money to go around. Rome’s economy imploded and they became vulnerable to years of war until nothing was left. sound familiar? The “free-for-all Revolution” also happened during America’s youngest years when our forefathers wanted the free market system to work. Aside from shooting people, all of their hard work did pay off and America endured a long, prosperous period of a strong economy because hard working individuals took the opportunity to build businesses and get rich. The free market system worked until the government decided to redistribute other’s wages to those who do not contribute. Either way, America may have to go back to ground zero and repeat history all over again.
Moral of the story: redistribution of income may have been designed with good intentions in mind, but good intentions truly pave the way to he$$.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:46 am
And you so tried?