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The Left’s Materialism
There is a famous – though probably apocryphal – story about a slave who escaped from his owner in Kentucky but was captured in Ohio and taken before a judge. The judge asked him if he had been mistreated as a slave. “Oh, no sir, me and ol’ massa was best of friends.” The judge asked if he had been overworked. “No sir. Me and ol’ massa took Wednesdays and Saturdays off and went fishing, and went hunting most near ever night.” The judge asked if he had been underfed. “No sir, ol’ massa gave me all the pork and cornmeal I could eat and I raised plenty of vegetables and chickens.” The judge asked if he’d been housed adequately. “I had a nice little cabin sir, with roses ’round the door.” “Well! I don’t understand why you ran away!” the judge exclaimed. The slave replied, “Well judge, your honor, sir, the position is still open down there if you want it.”
Those on the left often talk about the joys of Cuba and Venezuela, where schooling and medical care are provided by the government. But any “positions” that are open in those countries seem to have very few takers. In fact, people have been risking their lives to get out of Cuba for decades and many thousands have fled Venezuela. Funny how free housing, free food, and free medical care don’t quite stack up to freedom.
Published in General
Richard,
You are reaching down to a very very deep fundamental level. Just how much do we believe in Freedom. I think we underestimate just how deeply we need search this area of belief in ourselves. Probably, each new generation must discover for themselves what Freedom is all about.
Perhaps that’s what is going on right now.
Regards,
Jim
I wish I shared your faith in humanity, but I’ve come to the sad conclusion that a majority of the public would be willing to trade their freedom for food stamps, free housing and a mandated wage as long as they couldn’t be fired and no one made more than them.
Very nicely done, Richard! I have nothing to add.
We may already be there, when half the country now pays no net income taxes.
Books could be written about the left’s materialism.
It seems that the left is far more materialistic and selfish than the right. There probably are many reasons and many manifestations.
We have seen the utter lack of charitable impulse in wealthy left wing politicians, whether giving money or time. Even ignoring his LDS work, Mitt Romney likely was more charitable than any wealthy national Dem politician. Contrast John Kerry, Joe Biden, BHO, the whole Kennedy syndicate…
Sadly by the time you realize you have lost your freedom it is too late to regain it. Today freedom means “rights”, right to free medical care, to free food, to rent subsidy, etc., not freedom of speech, assembly.
Assign reading Inventing Freedom to. . . everyone.
That is a terrific story, and a profound moral that you draw from it about the left.
I can see the title of Obama’s next book now:
My Democracy: From Messiah To Massa In Two Terms Or Less.
Watching that freedom in St. Louis right now. Disappointment with the lack of “free stuff” and the broken promises. Nobel sentiments from those with full bellies, but does this ignore reality and/or human nature? How many decades have we promised freedom to our Black citizens and our allies only to condemn them to the slavery of the welfare state and expediency? How free is a welfare mother trapped in an administrative maze that punishes her for trying to escape the welfare web? How free are underprivileged children of all races who are trying to get a decent education? I could go on and on but it makes me sick to think or write about it.
It always ticked me off that when Barbara Walters needed an operation no one ever pressed her to have it done in Cuba since she had raved about their wonderful system, I’m sure Fidel would have OKed it. But no, as usual, the Cuban system is good for the ‘little people’ , for Barb it’s nothing but the best hospitals New York has to offer.
Oh, come on! Freedom is so overrated. All those difficult decisions to make, all those responsibilities to bear, all those risks to run. Just give me a benevolent master (preferably a Hopey Changey one) and all will be well. And I have Aristotle on my side:
“But is there any one thus intended by nature to be a slave, and for whom such a condition is expedient and right, or rather is not all slavery a violation of nature?
There is no difficulty in answering this question, on grounds both of reason and of fact. For that some should rule and others be ruled is a thing not only necessary, but expedient; from the hour of their birth, some are marked out for subjection, others for rule.”