One day the king who ruled the land decided to go visit some of his peasants. He was rather surprised to see the sorry state of their house and asked if there was anything he could do for them.
"Yes," the peasant father said. "You take such a high percentage of our goods as tax. If you took a lower percentage, then we could sell what we did not eat and fix the house."
This did not appeal to the king, however, and in his incredible generosity chose to give them a jacuzzi, so that their backs would not hurt and they could work more hours for him.
Years later, he revisited, to see that they had not prospered as he had hoped. The jacuzzi sat empty and dry in the back yard of the increasingly shabby house. "What is this?" he demanded. "Why aren't you using the jacuzzi I gave you so that your backs wouldn't hurt and you could work longer hours?"
"Sire, we can't afford the water to fill the jacuzzi, or the electricity to run it," the peasant father tried to explain. "In addition, it is taking up part of the yard that I could have used for gardening, and we are producing even less than before. Please take it back and give us more of our goods back instead. We know what we need, and if we only have the means, we can do it ourselves."
But the king left, angered that his subjects were so inconsiderate as to not profit from his generosity.
I am the full-time homemaker of a single-income family in the Working-Class income area. We lose 15% of our income altogether to income taxes and other mandatory government social programs. We cannot apply for Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, food stamps, or even heat assistance. We have no guarantee of Social Security.
Obama wants to give us extended preschool which we won't use, extended after-school programs that our homeschooled kid is not allowed to join, daycare money that we don't need, and credits for buying a "clean" car that we can't afford. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, though I know he is not listening...
Stop giving us jacuzzi's, Obama! Let us keep more of our own goods! Then we can sell what we do not eat and fix the house!
A fine example and a good reminder that as oft as not, the government has no idea what the people need. Of course, sometimes the people don't know what they need either. Socialized Healthcare, for example.
ReplyDeleteThere are a LOT of proponents out there for it that want the world handed to them, and have been blinded by this utopian (and incorrect) vision that's been shown to them by the main stream media of how well the socialized medical systems in other countrys work.
I ran into our cleaning lady at work tonight when I came in early - and out of the blue we started a political discussion. She had some very interesting views, an odd mishmash of Liberal and Conservative ideology that often times conflicted with one another.
I didn't out and try to change all of or really any of them, just tried to inform her of some of the pieces she was missing.
It'll be interesting to see if she takes some of the ideas and grows them. Personally, I'll be interested to find out... and not just because she was kinda cute and not airheaded :)
-Jon