Tuesday, June 28, 2011

A kick in the pants

You folks know how I feel about entitlements and other factors that are bringing down our once-great nation. Blogger Rob Hirl at PACNW Righty doesn't mince words when it comes to this very point.


"There was a time when living in poverty really meant something. It was difficult to put food on the table when you were living in poverty. Now it just means you can’t have i-phone for everyone, or there are only two TVs with cable hook ups in the house. Cut the entitlement programs to a point that when folks are on a program, they want off as soon as they can. Entitlements shouldn’t be so folks can pay for their fancy cell phone plans or for cable TV hook ups. If folks want these things, then they need to get jobs. So what if they have to do without these luxuries for a while, it can be an incentive..."

Read the rest of Rob's kick-butt essay here.

11 comments:

  1. AMEN!!! So tired of the entitlement mentality! Sad place our country is in...God help us!

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  2. Ditto that! Add having a valid ssn to even qualify for help in the first place.

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  3. I agree with the author on all points with one big exception. Honestly, do you really believe DC can be fixed? Short of divine intervention (and why should He after being abandoned by America?), I believe our last chance to regain liberty is reclaiming States' Rights. The States must put ‘The Beast’ back in its cage. That was tried once. Pray that our next attempt will yield victory.

    Folks, neutrality is not an option. You know in your hearts that before long ‘The Beast’ will be at YOUR door. It is time to pick your allies. Roger

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  4. But that is not how you buy votes, and isn't that what entitlements are all about?

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  5. Hooray! Somebody willing to write the truth. A rare quality today.

    Anonymous Patriot
    USA

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  6. Dang. We only have TV, and that's an old one. It isn't very big, either. No smartphones, just talk only phones on one of those prepaid plans. Our vehicles are 20 years old.

    I come to a slow boil in the grocery store when I see people using food cards paid for by ME, the taxpayer, to buy better food than I can afford, talking on an Iphone throughout the transaction (which I don't have the spare cash to pay for) and then drive away in a much more expensive vehicle than I have.

    Something needs to change.

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  7. i can remember in 1968 my dad lost his job. while he was looking for other work, we had to depend on commodities...this came before food stamps were thought of. we would walk three miles to town with my brothers wagon to stand in line to collect those tins of dried egg, canned ham, canned chicken, canned beef, bags of rice, instant potato etc... we lived off this stuff for about three months and were so happy when daddy got another job and we were able to start babysitting and doing our part as well. we were so poor and really did appreciate being able to get food during our hard times but we did not ever take more than we needed nor did we take when our needs were less. i too get really upset seeing kids dressed to the nines with their ipods etc...while their moms and dads are using food stamps and medicaid etc..i know that times are tough right now, but i do not see these same people doing anything for themselves besides putting their hands out.

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  8. I read Rob's blog, but not for a couple days...I am going over to comment to him....love his blog..
    Thanks Patrice for having his post on your blog.
    Sandy in NC (Too near Washington, DC) for me...

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  9. So true, When I was growing up we were poor. My mother was a single parent with two kids (no support from our father whom she divorced) and she worked 2 jobs and went to school to get a better education ( teacher and now a Vice principal at a high school). Yes, we had assistance, food stamps and medical but my mother spent food stamps on basics no processed crap, sodas, candy, (like people on programs can buy now) she cooked everything at home. We never went hungry, we always had clothing and we grew up pretty well. My mother raised us to be kind, helpful, respectful, and to get an education, and of course be happy for what you have and you do not have be like everyone else and have the best or latest gizmo! We also played outside, read books, played with simple toys, didn't have a TV, and by golly we have imaginations because of that and are a whole lot smarter too!

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  10. In our state, Will Rogers' picture is on the food stamp swipe card. He's probably rolling in his grave. I get mad when I see that the people using their food stamp swipe card found money SOMEWHERE for all those tatoos they are sporting. Then how about the next separate transaction for the cigarettes? Not to poor to break that habit.

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  11. What Swampie said..

    No smart phones. Our Teevee is only Hi-def becuase it was given to us - ditto for the tuner. We are off air only.

    Cable? For the internet yes, otherwise? No.

    Two cars: a 24 year old commute bomb and a nice 7 year old family car given to us by a family member who no longer wanted it.

    Yes I have a number of things, but I have been accruing them for many years and repairing many of them during those years.

    Use it up.
    Wear it out.
    Make do,
    Or do without.

    I remember visiting a government housing project in 1972 right after high school as part of summer missionary project. I was shocked to see that many of the places had nicer "things" than the middle class home I grew up in.

    What is wrong with this picture?

    I will tell you: It is a President who believes and acts upon that belief that, for people to "prosper" they must have ever bigger government hand-out programs.

    Piracy is not prosperity - or at least it is not so for long.

    I am reaminded of the greeting of the new priest in the small village.

    It was the custom to give the new priest a cask of wine as a gift.

    A cask would be set out and everyone would contribute some of the family's wine to the case.

    One by one, people went to the cask with their pitcher of "wine".

    A person went out and said, "I cannot afford togive wine, but now will notivce in with all this wine, my contribution of water.

    When presneted to the poriest, he suggested that the town share it out that very day.

    When the cask was tapped, they poured glasses for all the townspeople, filled with pure clear water...

    Conclusion:
    If no value is put into the system, no value can be extracted.

    Application: The various welfare systems taken togehter represent a huge moral hazard. Nobody is grindingly poor, so nobody works.

    I nobody works there is nothing to be had with that seemingly endless supply of worthless money that Benny and Timmy are printing.

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