When I was young, I remember my parents discussing a family who had lost all their possessions in a fire. I found it understandable to be upset at losing everything and having to start anew, but I thought they would be compensated for what had happened. After all, it's not like it was their fault. I was surprised, then, to learn that the family would not receive compensation as they had not purchased insurance on their home. I didn't understand.. But, it isn't fair.. The fire was deemed accidental, why shouldn't they be compensated for all their losses? My father simply laughed at me and said, "Son, life isn't fair. You're too naive now to understand that." Well, I certainly didn't like being called naive.. But most of all, I was upset and disappointed in America. Why, I thought. Why, in the greatest country in the entire world is there still misery and unfairness? We've grown in society, and people should no longer have to suffer. Right?
I felt the same when our neighbors were robbed later that same year. The thieves were never caught, and the stolen items never recovered. And again, I was astonished to learn that the victims were not compensated for these losses. Surely, the police or someone should pay them for the stuff they lost? It's unjust! Why should people have to suffer because of the actions of another? I was completely baffled at the idea of insurance, and the need to continually pay a premium just to be compensated when your possessions were lost at no fault to you. It just isn't fair. America is so much better than that, we need more government to help these unfortunate individuals.. And all those who are poor and needy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sound familiar? Well, it should. This is essentially the cornerstone of every liberal argument-- Need. But, people ought to be treated better. People need health care and social security. No, Americans deserve a better lifestyle. Why do we lack so much that all the other countries are providing for their citizens? Why is America so broken?
As I said, I once felt the same when I was ten years old. Then, I grew up.
I now understand that money doesn't grow on trees. You can't compensate people for the possessions they've lost, because where would you get the money to do that? On the one hand, there are charities and organizations that morally try to help the needy. On the other hand, you have the liberal's demand to tax, and take the fruits of one man's labor at the point of a gun. Which is the moral course of action? Taking wealth from the people that some entity designates as not needing it, and giving it to people that the same entity designates as in need? Or simply allowing people and the free market to offer up its own solution? From the latter comes charities, insurance, and incentivized prevention.
What I thought made America weak and foolish actually makes her strong and wise. It's up to you to make and lose wealth however you see fit; You're on your own. You are free to invent, to innovate, to be an entrepreneur. You are free to choose your own line of work; to choose a life of crime if you wish or to choose to be your own boss. I failed to understand that this freedom was what I was seeking to destroy in my utopia. You see, liberals don't want you to be able to choose. They want to take away the bad consequences of your actions, and thus, destroy that action altogether. Liberals want to institutionalize the concept of parental figures, onlookers to ensure you don't make the wrong choices in your life. Liberals don't believe you or I are intelligent enough to make our own decisions, they do not believe people should be given the freedom, the power to make their own decisions. What if you make a mistake? What happens if you should fail? Liberals seek to eliminate failure.. but they don't understand, nay, they are too naive to understand that this subsequently eliminates success. They would rather everyone be equal and have no success, than have to deal with both success and failure.
Herein lies the philosophical difference between liberals and conservatives: Should you be given the power to fail? Those naive individuals like my 10-year-old self would have you believe that government intervention is necessary to protect you from yourself.. You must be protected from failure, from chance, and from life itself. On the other hand, those who actually understand that what the liberals propose is not plausible, that to live in a world without failure is to live in an impractical world devoid of purpose and success, actually understand that failure is ultimately essential and inevitable of human nature.
I reject liberalism because I can think, because I understand the practical world, and because I refuse to embrace the idea that I need an all-powerful human-entity to tell me how I should live my life. I required parents in my first years of life to teach me how to live successfully, but I do not require parents in my latter years of life to tell me how I go about living that life.
No comments:
Post a Comment