If you spend much time in your vehicle, as
many of us do, you must find some way to fill the hours of void. Simply staring at billboards or fixating on the
centerline of the road doesn’t cut it.
Thank God for the radio! Whether
it’s mindless sports chatter, insipid music, religious dogma, or even an
opinionated blabbermouth, it provides the distraction needed to avoid lapsing
into coma. Often you pay little attention
to the words that flow; it’s enough the sounds break the monotony.
I tuned in several days ago to a local talk show. The host, Michael Medved, was interviewing a
presidential candidate, Jeb Bush.
Although Mr. Bush’s poll numbers are not favorable, he remains a viable
Republican candidate, if only because of name identification and money-raising
ability. As the interview continued, I
found most of his comments nicely modulated and more or less reasonable. But suddenly a phrase came through that
brought me wide awake: “We must lift people out of poverty!” That reflects an attitude I reject; let me
share my bias.
Admittedly, government’s passing out benefits
to one group, which were confiscated from another group, is certainly a
successful vote-getting technique.
However, personal financial well-being is not a community activity. It’s the result of individual endeavor and
accountability. The collective “we” has
never lifted people out of poverty, despite countless promises to the contrary. There’s nothing the institutional handout can
guarantee but a continuation of the handout.
And along with each freebee is the pacification it instills, as the
affected segments of the society abandon any pretext toward a work ethic
It was disappointing to hear a candidate who
seemed otherwise rational blurt out nonsense.
Possibility he wasn’t paying much attention to what he was saying and simply
threw out a conventional slogan. Nonetheless,
as this year’s political campaign continues, we may expect to be deluged
regularly with meaningless drivel. And
perhaps it will work for an articulate demagogue. To paraphrase a comment attributed to one of
the world’s foremost skeptics of the past, H. L. Mencken: “No one ever lost an
election by underestimating the sophistication of the American voter.”
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If you enjoy this weekly Straight Talk by Al Jacobs, you’re invited to check out my monthly Financial Newsletter, as well as my new book, The Road to Prosperity
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