Quote:
Originally Posted by kutulu
Sun Tzu:
It's awesome that you've been able to achieve great things. However, I think the point is that the number of opportunities is less than the amount of people competing for them. Poverty is inevitable for a certain percentage of the population. People may move freely from one class to another but the percentages stay about the same. "Get a better job" ignores this reality.
|
Here is a big difference between you and I. I don't believe the 'number of opportunities' is static. In fact, I believe people can make their own opportunities. If you produce something of value, you have just manufactured a product and an opportunity.
For instance, I make more money than most enlisted soldiers in the Army. If they wanted to work hard, and go to advanced schools for better pay and accelerated promotion they could do so, but most don't even though they are perfectly capable.
Likewise with college. I paid my own way through school, so the argument that someone 'didn't have enough money to go to school' really doesn't sit well with me. I had a goal, and I accepted the burden necessary to achieve it.
And along that same line of thinking, since I have a degree and am military, I could go to OCS and become an officer if I ever felt I was unable to properly support myself or my family on my current income. I don't want to because I love my job, but I am not about to complain about how 'unfortunate' I am until I really exhaust all options.
I know a whole lot of people who could earn an honest living by joining the military. Instead they bounce between bottom-of-the-barrel part-time jobs and complain about how 'unfortunate' they are.
I believe I have mentioned this in a prior post years ago, but when I worked at Target during highschool, I had two coworkers from whom I learned a very important lesson. As it's appropriate here, I will summarize:
I worked in the stockroom at target as a teenager, and while I started off earning very little, I was quickly given a series of pretty decent promotions and within a couple months was earning near 8.00 per hour, which, for a 16 year old on his first job wasn't bad. One of my coworkers realized I had been promoted and threw a fit as he had been working at target for a long time and was still making less than me.
His name was Justin, and he was frequently late for work, often hung over, sometimes still borderline drunk, always complaining about how unfortunate he was, and was less than industrious. He was pissed at me, but the person he disliked most was a black guy named Charlie who had immigrated from Africa not too long ago.
Charlie was slow talking and slow moving, but he worked very hard, never left a job unfinished, never complained, was always on time and often stayed late to finish the days' work. To make a long story short, I found out one day following a confrontation between Justin and Charlie that Charlie had worked for several years to save enough money to come to the United States, that he spoke 4 languages (english was his 4'th), that he was working another full time job in a warehouse, and that he was attending community college classes.
It was the perfect contrast. On one hand is a person who is manufacturing his own disadvantages and who feels wronged by society for his lack of success. On the other is a person who really did have every 'excuse' to be a drain on society, but who had the dignity to better himself even though it was difficult.
It was obvious that Charlie was using a low paying job as a stepping stone on his way towards something better while Justin was using it because he could get away with being almost useless.
Oh, and Will: If I work hard and am successful, why should I not be able to give my children some advantages? Equality is not stealing from those who have earned their money. To do so is to be a parasite. It is not equal to pay for peoples college educations just because they are poor, or a minority, or for any reason other than excellence. I had to get student loans, which I am still struggling to pay back because I wanted an education. It infuriates me that people are getting a free ride through college in the name of 'equality' and I am forced to help support them through the money I pay in taxes.
-----Added 4/8/2008 at 08 : 56 : 03-----
Quote:
Originally Posted by kutulu
*sigh*
Again, you are getting the GROUP and the INDIVIDUAL confused. Take an honest look at an office building and think about what makes it run. Somebody has to do the landscaping. Somebody has to clean the toilets. Somebody has to work at the cafeteria. Those jobs aren't going to earn high wages. Maybe the person is lazy. Maybe they are doing this for the short term. Maybe this is the person's fullest potential. People who do those jobs may move on to bigger and better things but that crappy job remains.
My interpretation is that a libertarian sees these people and thinks "that sucks" and moves on. I think that this is an unethical way to build a nation.
|
No, a libertarian works one of those jobs and after realizing how much it sucks works hard enough to get a better one.