Thoughts, opinions, and musings from a curious "Seasoned Citizen"

Vol. 1  No.10

Gi'me, gi'me, gi'me.  Seems'  like that has become our national mantra.  Listening to a call in radio show the other day the caller was adamant  he was "entitled" to health care, it was "owed" to him. The host tried to explain the caller was "entitled" to earn his health care, he was "entitled" to get the best deal he could for his money, but he was not "entitled" to have it given to him at the expense of some poor guy who chose to work hard, make a few bucks, and then have the Feds pick his pocket to buy the vote of the parasite. 

I've been around for quite awhile now and I can't help but feel really sad for the future of our country when somehow  the pride we took in accomplishment  has been replaced by the pride we now take in what we can get for free. Of course, nothing is "free".  Whatever Uncle Sugar hands out he either (1) took from someone who had earned it, or (2) he adds to the national debt which eventually will be taken from our children or more likely, our grandchildren.  The people of this country were always giving and charitable and more than ready to help the family down on their luck or a victim or circumstances.  A true man would do any kind of work to avoid having to take charity for himself or his family, and if he had to take a handout, he was more than willing to find a way to pay it back.

We were all taught "all men are created equal", unfortunately, the teacher never really explained that  didn't mean we were all entitled to Maserati's.  It meant we were entitled to use our talents to the best of our ability, and if we were good enough to afford a Maserati, buy it.  If I take my height and weight and compare to some professional football players, we're  created equal. But, it you look at the results of what came from starting equal in the crib, you see that personal choice, effort and dedication resulted in two markedly different results. One, a finely tuned, chiseled athlete, and me, play dough.  Do I deserve the pay check of a pro athlete? Of course not. Would I like the pay check of a pro, of course. But the people in hell would like ice water, too.  But they probably earned their place in hell, I earned my morphology, and the pro earned his Maserati, Lear Jet and Malibu hideaway.  Just to lighten up a bit here, as I write about "all men being created equal" I can't get the line from an old Andy Griffith routine that went something like, "anybody who thinks all men are created equal has never been in an army shower room."

About once every other day some politician, or some non elected functionary who feeds at the public trough, feel the need to show their reason for being and they bring up "affordable housing".  When I hear that phrase being bandied about, I  have to wonder, just what is "affordable housing"?  To me, it's what you can afford to buy with your own resources.  When I came to Napa some years ago, I had a nice little nest egg in my pocket from selling my home back east. However, when I started shopping houses, I  quickly found out there were neighborhoods in Napa that my nest egg couldn't touch.  When I finally did find a house I could buy, it became my "affordable housing".  Nobody owes you a house, if you can't make the down payment, can't afford the mortgage payment, what right do you have to expect someone else to grub stake you?  There is always a balance between what you can earn and what you can afford, and it's up to you to tip the scale in your favor.  There's an air of arrogance which begins to slip in to any discussion when someone feels an entitlement to the fruits of someone else's labor.  My Dad came to this country as a twelve year old, non English speaking immigrant, and by the sweat of his brow and a killer work schedule, raised a family, owned several businesses, put two of us through college and never took a dime of charity and left no debts upon his death.  He frequently would say, "you don't work, you don't eat."  Words to live by.

I've always been mystified by those people who line up to get some sort of a stipend from the government, (read taxpayer) and then scream discrimination when it's suggested they should have to pass a drug test for they get a handout, choosing to ignore the fact that the guy busting his hump, whose tax money they've got their hands out for, in all likelihood had to pee in that little bottle before he got the job that supports both he and his family and the free loaders. The only discrimination here is against the worker who has no choice but to pony up for the benefit of some parasite working the system.  Quite frankly I have more respect for the trustee prisoners out grooming out highways. At least they are contributing  something which benefits the community.  In fact, I'd go along with one more bureaucrat roll rider, if he/she were responsible  for seeing that there were no handouts without community service first.  I bet that would take some of the fun out of working the system. 

More learned scholars than I have asked the rhetorical question, "what happens when you run out of other people's money to give away?"

We need to stop being a town, state, country of enablers who create a permanent underclass by subsidizing non or under performance.  Who in the name of fighting discrimination, discriminate against someone by patting them on the head and telling them we understand how they are not smart enough to succeed with their own God given talents and here's some money so we both can feel good.

At least that's the way I see it.   

Charlie