"Millennials" is the common
term given to Americans born between the early-1980s to the mid-1990s. Their generation follows "Generation
X" but comes before "Generation Z". In general, they tend to be hard-working and
technologically brilliant - and politically very far left-leaning. They constitute the bulk of support for Democrat
Presidential challenger Bernie Sanders, and his ilk.
Who or what is to blame for this leftward
trend? There is plenty of blame to go
around, starting with our educational system.
These kids are raised in schools that run by the government and staffed
with members of teacher labor unions.
Civics classes are becoming non-existent. Does anyone really expect these schools to
teach the benefits and advantages of free-market economics?
Then they go to college, where things get much
worse. An article in the Chicago Tribune publicizes some shocking statistics regarding the
political lean of many of America most prestigious colleges, based on polling
of teaching staff. Here is the worst of
the worst: at Wellesley, at Williams and at Swarthmore, the ratio of Democrat to
Republican professors is a whopping 120 to 1. Does anyone expect a student there to get any
kind of balanced, fair political indoctrination?
Another target of
blame are Conservatives. They turn
people away with their rhetoric and policies, starting with their advocacy of unlimited
military intervention in pursuit of imperialistic control of the entire world from
Washington DC. Then there is their vain
and foolish attempt to win people over to God via prohibitions against drugs
and other vice crimes. And let us not
forget that, when it comes to fiscal responsibility, Conservatives are all talk
and no action. (Or as we say here in Texas: All hat, no cattle.) Not that I ever was a big fan of Conservatism,
but it was supposed to be a bulwark against leftist "progressive" economic
policies.
And then there is
the news media, and that includes both traditional print and broadcast media
AND web-based news. Like our higher ed
system, many major news organizations are saturated with liberal left-wing
advocates. No, they are not "the enemy
of the people", as Trump often declares, and many news organizations do
make an honest attempt to be fair and impartial. But the media does indeed have a lot of power
over what we think and feel, and free-market economic theory tends to get cast
aside. Millennials, with their impressionable
young minds seeking answers, are easily swayed.
Leftist-liberalism
is like the Dark Side of the Force: it's
very seductive. Admittedly, it's rather appealing
on the surface. It preaches that we can reduce
(or even eliminate) poverty by exerting control over the greedy, selfish portion
of our society who hoard all the wealth.
After all, all men are created equal, and even the Bible commands us all
to be generous and help the needy. Who could
possibly be opposed to that? The Millennials
hear it and say: where do I sign up?
Ok, here comes
the rebuttal:
To begin: the part that the leftists tend to downplay centers
around the pronoun "we" in the above paragraph. "We", of course, is the government.
Let's make one
point very clear: government does not
give a flying flip about helping the poor.
Leftist-liberal policies such as wealth redistribution, wage & price
controls, tax-supported "free" services, and all the others are justified
by saying it's all to help the poor, or the sick, or the elderly, or the
babies, etc, etc, etc. Well, that is a
lie. The true goal of these programs is: power.
The power to control us. The
power to decide who gets to spend my paycheck and what to spend it on. Government is all about force and
coercion. Government says do this, or
don't do that, and if you have contrary ideas, they will punish you using whatever
level of physical violence is necessary to teach you who's boss. (More on this later.) Government is not some fantasy combination Santa
Claus, Superman, and God. It's just a bunch
of ordinary, fallible humans who are in no way superior to you and me - but
with more power.
If you truly care
about the poor and want to help alleviate suffering and poverty, there's a much
better way: advocate freedom. Do you doubt it? Just look at history. Throughout the ages, there is a clear and
irrefutable correlation between freedom and prosperity. Nations that have employed heavy-handed governmental
control over their citizens always find themselves wallowing in misery, their
citizens willing to risk their very lives to escape. But nations like the United States became prosperous
and wealthy because of a culture of liberty and limited government. Yet the Bernie Sanders of the world want to turn
the USA into another Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba, Afghanistan, Syria, or
Soviet Union.
To preempt
confusion, let me clarify that "freedom" means: the right to run your own life SO LONG AS your
actions are peaceful and honest.
Leftist-liberals like to use instances where wealthy business-people have
been dishonest or coercive as an argument that free enterprise doesn't work. No, that is NOT "free
enterprise". I absolutely agree that
dishonesty and force are never acceptable - but let's be consistent here. The initiation of force or fraud must always
be banned, regardless of WHO you or your employer is. Nobody gets a free pass - not even government
employees.
So if the
government does not help the poor and downtrodden, who will? Yes the poor do indeed exist, even here in
the USA. The reasons for their existence
vary. Some are victims of circumstances
beyond their control; some just simply need guidance and a helping hand. So, if you feel they need help ... then help
them! There is no need to employ
government as a middle-man, extracting their rather hefty handling fees to pay six-digit
salaries to legions of politicians and bureaucrats and other poverty pimps so they
can interfere, restrict, impede, and constrain us every step of the way.
Furthermore, the
Bible does not say that helping our fellow man is a governmental
responsibility.
And please spare
me your pitiful arguments about inequality and how the bulk of our nations'
wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few.
This is nothing but pure envy. Wealthy
people are so because they are smart, have high ambitions, and work their butts
off. They come up with solutions to problems
or figure out what people want and need, produce it, make a profit, and then use
some of those profits to create jobs, hire employees, and pay them money. Successful people are not the bad guys here. The real bad guys are the Bernie Sanders of
the world who want to pick our pockets clean, or tell us how to run our businesses
and private affairs.
So by now, you're
probably thinking: do we even need
government at all? Does it even have a
role in a free society? Actually, yes. I will address this topic in a future article. Stay tuned.
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