S
sonofthesouth
Guest
LAST EDITED ON Jan-12-08 AT 01:31PM (MST)[p]
Its long but a good read!
I am honored by the invitation to address you on this august occasion.It's about time. Be warned, however, that I am not here to impressyou; you'll have enough smoke blown your way today. And you can betyour tassels I'm not here to impress the faculty and administration.
You may not like much of what I have to say, and that's fine. You willremember it though. Especially after about 10 years out there in thereal world. This, it goes without saying, does not apply to those ofyou who will seek your careers and your fortunes as government employees.
This gowned gaggle behind me is your faculty. You've heard the oldsaying that those who can - do. Those who can't - teach. That soundsdeliciously insensitive. But there is often raw truth ininsensitivity, just as you often find feel-good falsehoods and lies incompassion. Say good-bye to your faculty because now you are gettingready to go out there and do. These folks behind me are going to stayright here and teach.
By the way, just because you are leaving this place with a diplomadoesn't mean the learning is over. When an FAA flight examiner handedme my private pilot's license many years ago, he said, 'Here, this isyour ticket to learn.' The same can be said for your diploma. Believeme, the learning has just begun. Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In fact,you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much.You feel so much. You want to help so much. After all, you're acompassionate and caring person, aren't you now? Well, isn't that justso extraordinarily special. Now, at this age, is as good a time as anyto be a Liberal; as good a time as any to know absolutely everything.You have plenty of time, starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in.Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath ofreality down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty fast.. including your own assessment of just how much you really know.
So here are the first assignments for your initial class in reality
ay attention to the news, read newspapers, and listen to the wordsand phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Thencompare the words of the left to the words and phrases you hear fromthose evil, heartless, greedy conservatives. From the Left you willhear "I feel." From the Right you will hear "I think." From theLiberals you will hear references to groups --The Blacks, The Poor,The Rich, The Disadvantaged, The Less Fortunate. From the Right youwill hear references to individuals. On the Left you hear talk ofgroup rights; on the Right, individual rights. That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They arepack animals whose identity is tied up in group dynamics.Conservatives and Libertarians think -- and, setting aside thetheocracy crowd, their identity is centered on the individual. Liberals feel that their favored groups, have enforceable rights tothe property and services of productive individuals.
Conservatives(and Libertarians, myself among them I might add) think thatindividuals have the right to protect their lives and their propertyfrom the plunder of the masses. In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely atyour diplomas you will see that they have your individual names onthem. Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity orsorority, butyourname. Your group identity is going away. Yourrecognition and appreciation of your individual identity starts now.
If, by the time you reach the age of 30, you do not consider yourselfto be a libertarian or a conservative, rush right back here as quicklyas you can and apply for a faculty position. These people will welcomeyou with open arms. They will welcome you, that is, so long as youhaven't developed an individual identity. Once again you will have tobe willing to sign on to the group mentality you embraced during thepast four years.
Something is going to happen soon that is going to really open youreyes. You're going to actually get a full time job! You're also goingto get a lifelong work partner. This partner isn't going to help youdo your job. This partner is just going to sit back and wait forpayday. This partner doesn't want to share in your effort, just yourearnings.
Your new lifelong partner is actually an agent; an agent representing a strange and diverse group of people. An agent for every teenagerwith an illegitimate child. An agent for a research scientist whowanted to make some cash answering the age-old question of why monkeysgrind their teeth. An agent for some poor aging hippie who considersherself to be a meaningful and talented artist ... but who just can'tmanage to sell any of her artwork on the open market.
Your new partner is an agent for every person with limited, if any,job skills; for every person who ignored all offered educationalopportunities, dreaming of nothing more than a job at City Hall. Anagent for tin-horn dictators in fancy military uniforms grasping forAmerican foreign aid. An agent for multi-million-dollar companies whowant someone else to pay for their overseas advertising. An agent foreverybody who wants to use the unimaginable power of this agent's fortheir personal enrichment and benefit.
That agent is our wonderful, caring, compassionate, oppressiveImperial Federal Government. Believe me, you will be awed by theunimaginable power this agent has. Power that you do not have. A powerthat no individual has, will have or should have. This agent has thelegal power to use force ? deadly force ? to accomplish its goals.
You have no choice here. Your new friend is just going to walk up toyou, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fillout, and move right on in. Say hello to your own personal one tongorilla with a gun. It will sleep anywhere it wants to.
Now, let me tell you, this agent is not cheap. As you becomesuccessful it will seize about 40% of everything you earn. And no, I'msorry, there just isn't any way you can fire this agent of plunder,and you can't decrease it's share of your income. That power restswith him, not you. So, here I am saying negative things to you about government. Well, beclear on this: It is not wrong to distrust government. It is not wrongto fear government. In certain cases it is not even wrong to despisegovernment for government is inherently evil. Oh yes, I know it's anecessary evil, but it is dangerous nonetheless ... somewhat like adrug. Just as a drug that in the proper dosage can save your life, anoverdose of government can be fatal.
Now ? let's address a few things that have been crammed into yourminds at this university. There are some ideas you need to expunge assoon as possible. These ideas may work well in academic environment,but they fail miserably out there in the real world.
First ? that favorite buzz word of the media, government and academiaiversity!
You have been taught that the real value of any group of people - beit a social group, an employee group, a management group, whatever -is based on diversity. This is a favored liberal ideal becausediversity is based not on an individual's abilities or character, buton a person's identity and status as a member of a group. Yes ? it'sthat liberal group identity thing again. Within the great diversity movement group identification - be itracial, gender based, or some other minority status - means more thanthe individual's integrity, character or other qualifications.
Brace yourself. You are about to move from this academic atmospherewhere diversity rules, to a workplace and a culture where individualachievement and excellence actually count. No matter what yourprofessors have taught you over the last four years, you are about tolearn that diversity is absolutely no replacement for excellence,ability, and individual hard work. From this day on every single time you hear the word "diversity" youcan rest assured that there is someone close by who is determined torob you of every vestige of individuality you possess.
We also need to address this thing you seem to have about "rights." Wehave witnessed an obscene explosion of so-called "rights" in the lastfew decades, usually emanating from college campuses.
You know the mantra: You have the right to a job. The right to a placeto live. The right to a living wage. The right to health care. Theright to an education. You probably even have your own pet right - theright to a Beemer, for instance, or the right to have someone elseprovide for that child you plan on downloading in a year or so.
Forget it. Forget those rights! I'll tell you what your rights are!You have a right to live free, and to whatever wealth you are able toproduce with your labor. I'll also tell you have no right to anyportion of the life or labor of another.
You may think, for instance, that you have a right to health care.After all, Hillary said so, didn't she? But you cannot receive healthcare unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders some of histime - his life - to you. He may be willing to do this forcompensation, but that's his choice.
You have no "right" to his timeor property. You have no right to his or any other person's life or toany portion thereof. You may also think you have some "right" to a job; a job with a livingwage, whatever that is. Do you mean to tell me that you have a rightto force your services on another person, and then the right to demandthat this person compensate you with their money? I can't wait for youto point that one out for me in our Constitution. I sure would like tobe a fly on the wall when some urban outdoorsmen (that would be"homeless person" for those of you who don't want to give these lessfortunate people a romantic and adventurous title) came to you anddemanded his job and your money.
The people who have been telling you about all the rights you have aresimply exercising one of theirs - the right to be imbeciles. Theirbeing imbeciles didn't cost anyone else either property or time. It'stheir right, and they exercise it brilliantly.
By the way, did you catch my use of the phrase "less fortunate" a bitago when I was talking about the urban outdoorsmen? That phrase is afavorite of the Left. Think about it, and you'll understand why.
To imply that one person is homeless, destitute, dirty, drunk, spacedout on drugs, unemployable, and generally miserable because he is"less fortunate" is to imply that a successful person - one with ajob, a home and a future - is in that position because he or she was"fortunate." The dictionary says that fortunate means "having derivedgood from an unexpected place." There is nothing unexpected aboutderiving good from hard work. There is also nothing unexpected aboutderiving misery from choosing drugs, alcohol, and the street insteadof education and personal responsibility.
If the Left can create the common perception that success and failureare simple matters of "fortune" or "luck," then it is easy to promoteand justify their various income redistribution schemes. After all, weare just evening out the odds a little bit, aren't we?
This "success equals luck" idea the liberals like to push is seeneverywhere. Democratic presidential candidate Richard Gephardt refersto high-achievers as "people who have won life's lottery." He wantsyou to believe they are making the big bucks because they are lucky;all they did was buy the right lottery ticket. What an insult this isto the man or woman who works that 60 hour week to provide for afamily. It's not luck, my friends. It's choice. One of the greatest lessons Iever learned was in a book by Og Mandino, entitled "The GreatestSecret in the World." The lesson? Very simple: "Use wisely your powerof choice."
That bum sitting on a heating grate, smelling like a wharf rat? He'sthere by choice. He is there because of the sum total of the choiceshe has made in his life. This truism is absolutely the hardest thingfor some people to accept, especially those who consider themselves tobe victims of something or other - victims of discrimination, badluck, the system, capitalism, whatever. After all, nobody really wantsto accept the blame for his or her position in life. Not when it is somuch easier to point and say, "Look! He did this to me!" than it is tolook into a mirror and say, "You S.O.B.! You did this to me!"
The key to accepting responsibility for your life is to accept thefact that your choices, every one of them, are leading you inexorablyto either success or failure, however you define those terms.
Some of the choices are obvious: Whether or not to stay in school.Whether or not to get pregnant. Whether or not to hit the bottle.Whether or not to keep this job you hate until you get anotherbetter-paying job. Whether or not to save some of your money, orsaddle yourself with huge payments for that new car.
Some of the choices are seemingly insignificant: Whom to go to themovies with. Whose car to ride home in. Whether to watch the tubetonight, or read a book on investing. But, and you can be sure ofthis, each choice counts. Each choice is a building block - somelarge, some small. But each one is a part of the structure of yourlife. If you make the right choices, or if you make more right choicesthan wrong ones, something absolutely terrible may happen to you.Something unthinkable. You, my friend, could become one of the hated,the evil, the ugly, the feared, the filthy, the successful, the rich.
Quite a few people have followed that tragic path.
The rich basically serve two purposes in this country. First, theyprovide the investments, the investment capital, and the brains forthe formation of new businesses. Businesses that hire people.Businesses that send millions of paychecks home each week to theun-rich.
Second, the rich are a wonderful object of ridicule, distrust, andhatred. Few things are more valuable to a politician than the envymost Americans feel for the evil rich.
Envy is a powerful emotion. Even more powerful than the emotionalminefield that surrounded Bill Clinton when he reviewed his last batchof White House interns. Politicians use envy to get votes and power.And they keep that power by promising the envious that the envied willbe punished: "The rich will pay their fair share of taxes if I haveanything to do with it.' The truth is that the top 10% of income earners in this country paysalmost 50% of all income taxes collected. I shudder to think whatthese job producers would be paying if our tax system were any more"fair."
You have heard, no doubt, that in America the rich get richer and thepoor get poorer. Interestingly enough, our government's own numbersshow that many of the poor actually get richer, and that quite a fewof the rich actually get poorer. But for the rich who do actually getricher, and the poor who remain poor ... there's an explanation -- areason. The rich, you see, keep doing the things that make them rich;while the poor keep doing the things that make them poor.
Speaking of the poor, during your adult life you are going to hear anendless string of politicians bemoaning the plight of the poor inAmerica. So, you need to know that under our government's definitionof "poor" you can have a $5 million net worth, a $300,000 home and anew $90,000 Mercedes, all completely paid for. You can also have amaid, cook, and valet, and $1 million in your checking account, andyou can still be officially defined by our government as "living inpoverty." Now there's something you haven't seen on the evening news.
How does the government pull this one off? Very simple, really. Todetermine whether or not some poor soul is "living in poverty," thegovernment measures one thing -- just one thing. Income. It doesn'tmatter one bit how much you have, how much you own, how many cars youdrive or how big they are, whether or not your pool is heated, whetheryou winter in Aspen and spend the summers in the Bahamas, or how muchis in your savings account. It only matters how much income you claimin that particular year. This means that if you take a one-year leaveof absence from your high-paying job and decide to live off the moneyin your savings and checking accounts while you write the next greatAmerican novel, the government says you are 'living in poverty."
This isn't exactly what you had in mind when you heard these gloomystatistics, is it?
Do you need more convincing? Try this. The government's own statisticsshow that people who are said to be "living in poverty" spend morethan $1.50 for each dollar of income they claim. Something is a bitfishy here. just remember all this the next time Peter Jennings puffsup and tells you about some hideous new poverty statistics.
And please remember this: The average person in this country describedas "poor" has a higher standard of living than the average European.Not the average "poor" European, the average European. Why has the government concocted this phony poverty scam? Because thegovernment needs an excuse to grow and to expand its social welfareprograms, which translates into an expansion of its power. If thegovernment can convince you, in all your compassion,that the number of"poor" is increasing, it will have all the excuse it needs to sway anelectorate suffering from the advanced stages of Obsessive-CompulsiveCompassion Disorder.
Well, it looks like I'm about to be given the hook. The faculty looksa little angry. I'll bet they've already changed their minds aboutthat honorary degree I was going to get.That's OK, though. I stillhave my Ph.D. in Insensitivity from the Neal Boortz Institute forInsensitivity Training. I learned that, in short, sensitivity sucks.It's a trap. Think about it - the truth knows no sensitivity. Life canbe insensitive. Wallow too much in sensitivity and you'll be unable todeal with life, or the truth. So, get over it.
Now, before the dean has me shackled and hauled off, I have a fewrandom thoughts.
You need to register to vote, unless you are on welfare. If you areliving off the efforts of others, please do us the favor of sittingdown and shutting up until you are on your own again. To the welfareclass I say that we're taking care of you we would appreciate if ifyou would just stay out of our way so we can get the job done.
When you do vote, your votes for the House and the Senate are moreimportant than your vote for president. The House controls the pursestrings, so concentrate your awareness there.
Liars cannot be trusted, even when the liar is the president of theUnited States. If someone can't deal honestly with you, send thempacking.
Don't bow to the temptation to use the government as an instrument ofplunder. If it is wrong for you to take money from someone else whoearned it -- to take their money by force for your own needs -- thenit is certainly just as wrong for you to demand that the governmentstep forward and do this dirty work for you.
Don't look in other people's pockets. You have no business there. Whatthey earn is theirs. What your earn is yours. Keep it that way. Nobodyowes you anything, except to respect your privacy and your rights, andleave you the hell alone.
Speaking of earning, the revered 40-hour workweek is for losers. Fortyhours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don't seehighly successful people clocking out of the office every afternoon atfive. The losers are the ones caught up in that afternoon rush hour.The winners drive home in the dark.
Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, bydefinition, needs no protection.
Finally (and aren't you glad to hear that word), as Og Mandino wrote,
1. Proclaim your rarity. Each of you is a rare and unique human being.
2. Use wisely your power of choice.
3. Go the extra mile ... drive home in the dark. Oh, and put off buying a television set as long as you can. Now, if you have any idea at all what's good for you, you will get thehell out of here and never come back. Class dismissed.
Son
Its long but a good read!
I am honored by the invitation to address you on this august occasion.It's about time. Be warned, however, that I am not here to impressyou; you'll have enough smoke blown your way today. And you can betyour tassels I'm not here to impress the faculty and administration.
You may not like much of what I have to say, and that's fine. You willremember it though. Especially after about 10 years out there in thereal world. This, it goes without saying, does not apply to those ofyou who will seek your careers and your fortunes as government employees.
This gowned gaggle behind me is your faculty. You've heard the oldsaying that those who can - do. Those who can't - teach. That soundsdeliciously insensitive. But there is often raw truth ininsensitivity, just as you often find feel-good falsehoods and lies incompassion. Say good-bye to your faculty because now you are gettingready to go out there and do. These folks behind me are going to stayright here and teach.
By the way, just because you are leaving this place with a diplomadoesn't mean the learning is over. When an FAA flight examiner handedme my private pilot's license many years ago, he said, 'Here, this isyour ticket to learn.' The same can be said for your diploma. Believeme, the learning has just begun. Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In fact,you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much.You feel so much. You want to help so much. After all, you're acompassionate and caring person, aren't you now? Well, isn't that justso extraordinarily special. Now, at this age, is as good a time as anyto be a Liberal; as good a time as any to know absolutely everything.You have plenty of time, starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in.Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath ofreality down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty fast.. including your own assessment of just how much you really know.
So here are the first assignments for your initial class in reality
ay attention to the news, read newspapers, and listen to the wordsand phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Thencompare the words of the left to the words and phrases you hear fromthose evil, heartless, greedy conservatives. From the Left you willhear "I feel." From the Right you will hear "I think." From theLiberals you will hear references to groups --The Blacks, The Poor,The Rich, The Disadvantaged, The Less Fortunate. From the Right youwill hear references to individuals. On the Left you hear talk ofgroup rights; on the Right, individual rights. That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They arepack animals whose identity is tied up in group dynamics.Conservatives and Libertarians think -- and, setting aside thetheocracy crowd, their identity is centered on the individual. Liberals feel that their favored groups, have enforceable rights tothe property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives(and Libertarians, myself among them I might add) think thatindividuals have the right to protect their lives and their propertyfrom the plunder of the masses. In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely atyour diplomas you will see that they have your individual names onthem. Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity orsorority, butyourname. Your group identity is going away. Yourrecognition and appreciation of your individual identity starts now.
If, by the time you reach the age of 30, you do not consider yourselfto be a libertarian or a conservative, rush right back here as quicklyas you can and apply for a faculty position. These people will welcomeyou with open arms. They will welcome you, that is, so long as youhaven't developed an individual identity. Once again you will have tobe willing to sign on to the group mentality you embraced during thepast four years.
Something is going to happen soon that is going to really open youreyes. You're going to actually get a full time job! You're also goingto get a lifelong work partner. This partner isn't going to help youdo your job. This partner is just going to sit back and wait forpayday. This partner doesn't want to share in your effort, just yourearnings.
Your new lifelong partner is actually an agent; an agent representing a strange and diverse group of people. An agent for every teenagerwith an illegitimate child. An agent for a research scientist whowanted to make some cash answering the age-old question of why monkeysgrind their teeth. An agent for some poor aging hippie who considersherself to be a meaningful and talented artist ... but who just can'tmanage to sell any of her artwork on the open market.
Your new partner is an agent for every person with limited, if any,job skills; for every person who ignored all offered educationalopportunities, dreaming of nothing more than a job at City Hall. Anagent for tin-horn dictators in fancy military uniforms grasping forAmerican foreign aid. An agent for multi-million-dollar companies whowant someone else to pay for their overseas advertising. An agent foreverybody who wants to use the unimaginable power of this agent's fortheir personal enrichment and benefit.
That agent is our wonderful, caring, compassionate, oppressiveImperial Federal Government. Believe me, you will be awed by theunimaginable power this agent has. Power that you do not have. A powerthat no individual has, will have or should have. This agent has thelegal power to use force ? deadly force ? to accomplish its goals.
You have no choice here. Your new friend is just going to walk up toyou, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fillout, and move right on in. Say hello to your own personal one tongorilla with a gun. It will sleep anywhere it wants to.
Now, let me tell you, this agent is not cheap. As you becomesuccessful it will seize about 40% of everything you earn. And no, I'msorry, there just isn't any way you can fire this agent of plunder,and you can't decrease it's share of your income. That power restswith him, not you. So, here I am saying negative things to you about government. Well, beclear on this: It is not wrong to distrust government. It is not wrongto fear government. In certain cases it is not even wrong to despisegovernment for government is inherently evil. Oh yes, I know it's anecessary evil, but it is dangerous nonetheless ... somewhat like adrug. Just as a drug that in the proper dosage can save your life, anoverdose of government can be fatal.
Now ? let's address a few things that have been crammed into yourminds at this university. There are some ideas you need to expunge assoon as possible. These ideas may work well in academic environment,but they fail miserably out there in the real world.
First ? that favorite buzz word of the media, government and academia
iversity! You have been taught that the real value of any group of people - beit a social group, an employee group, a management group, whatever -is based on diversity. This is a favored liberal ideal becausediversity is based not on an individual's abilities or character, buton a person's identity and status as a member of a group. Yes ? it'sthat liberal group identity thing again. Within the great diversity movement group identification - be itracial, gender based, or some other minority status - means more thanthe individual's integrity, character or other qualifications.
Brace yourself. You are about to move from this academic atmospherewhere diversity rules, to a workplace and a culture where individualachievement and excellence actually count. No matter what yourprofessors have taught you over the last four years, you are about tolearn that diversity is absolutely no replacement for excellence,ability, and individual hard work. From this day on every single time you hear the word "diversity" youcan rest assured that there is someone close by who is determined torob you of every vestige of individuality you possess.
We also need to address this thing you seem to have about "rights." Wehave witnessed an obscene explosion of so-called "rights" in the lastfew decades, usually emanating from college campuses.
You know the mantra: You have the right to a job. The right to a placeto live. The right to a living wage. The right to health care. Theright to an education. You probably even have your own pet right - theright to a Beemer, for instance, or the right to have someone elseprovide for that child you plan on downloading in a year or so.
Forget it. Forget those rights! I'll tell you what your rights are!You have a right to live free, and to whatever wealth you are able toproduce with your labor. I'll also tell you have no right to anyportion of the life or labor of another.
You may think, for instance, that you have a right to health care.After all, Hillary said so, didn't she? But you cannot receive healthcare unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders some of histime - his life - to you. He may be willing to do this forcompensation, but that's his choice.
You have no "right" to his timeor property. You have no right to his or any other person's life or toany portion thereof. You may also think you have some "right" to a job; a job with a livingwage, whatever that is. Do you mean to tell me that you have a rightto force your services on another person, and then the right to demandthat this person compensate you with their money? I can't wait for youto point that one out for me in our Constitution. I sure would like tobe a fly on the wall when some urban outdoorsmen (that would be"homeless person" for those of you who don't want to give these lessfortunate people a romantic and adventurous title) came to you anddemanded his job and your money.
The people who have been telling you about all the rights you have aresimply exercising one of theirs - the right to be imbeciles. Theirbeing imbeciles didn't cost anyone else either property or time. It'stheir right, and they exercise it brilliantly.
By the way, did you catch my use of the phrase "less fortunate" a bitago when I was talking about the urban outdoorsmen? That phrase is afavorite of the Left. Think about it, and you'll understand why.
To imply that one person is homeless, destitute, dirty, drunk, spacedout on drugs, unemployable, and generally miserable because he is"less fortunate" is to imply that a successful person - one with ajob, a home and a future - is in that position because he or she was"fortunate." The dictionary says that fortunate means "having derivedgood from an unexpected place." There is nothing unexpected aboutderiving good from hard work. There is also nothing unexpected aboutderiving misery from choosing drugs, alcohol, and the street insteadof education and personal responsibility.
If the Left can create the common perception that success and failureare simple matters of "fortune" or "luck," then it is easy to promoteand justify their various income redistribution schemes. After all, weare just evening out the odds a little bit, aren't we?
This "success equals luck" idea the liberals like to push is seeneverywhere. Democratic presidential candidate Richard Gephardt refersto high-achievers as "people who have won life's lottery." He wantsyou to believe they are making the big bucks because they are lucky;all they did was buy the right lottery ticket. What an insult this isto the man or woman who works that 60 hour week to provide for afamily. It's not luck, my friends. It's choice. One of the greatest lessons Iever learned was in a book by Og Mandino, entitled "The GreatestSecret in the World." The lesson? Very simple: "Use wisely your powerof choice."
That bum sitting on a heating grate, smelling like a wharf rat? He'sthere by choice. He is there because of the sum total of the choiceshe has made in his life. This truism is absolutely the hardest thingfor some people to accept, especially those who consider themselves tobe victims of something or other - victims of discrimination, badluck, the system, capitalism, whatever. After all, nobody really wantsto accept the blame for his or her position in life. Not when it is somuch easier to point and say, "Look! He did this to me!" than it is tolook into a mirror and say, "You S.O.B.! You did this to me!"
The key to accepting responsibility for your life is to accept thefact that your choices, every one of them, are leading you inexorablyto either success or failure, however you define those terms.
Some of the choices are obvious: Whether or not to stay in school.Whether or not to get pregnant. Whether or not to hit the bottle.Whether or not to keep this job you hate until you get anotherbetter-paying job. Whether or not to save some of your money, orsaddle yourself with huge payments for that new car.
Some of the choices are seemingly insignificant: Whom to go to themovies with. Whose car to ride home in. Whether to watch the tubetonight, or read a book on investing. But, and you can be sure ofthis, each choice counts. Each choice is a building block - somelarge, some small. But each one is a part of the structure of yourlife. If you make the right choices, or if you make more right choicesthan wrong ones, something absolutely terrible may happen to you.Something unthinkable. You, my friend, could become one of the hated,the evil, the ugly, the feared, the filthy, the successful, the rich.
Quite a few people have followed that tragic path.
The rich basically serve two purposes in this country. First, theyprovide the investments, the investment capital, and the brains forthe formation of new businesses. Businesses that hire people.Businesses that send millions of paychecks home each week to theun-rich.
Second, the rich are a wonderful object of ridicule, distrust, andhatred. Few things are more valuable to a politician than the envymost Americans feel for the evil rich.
Envy is a powerful emotion. Even more powerful than the emotionalminefield that surrounded Bill Clinton when he reviewed his last batchof White House interns. Politicians use envy to get votes and power.And they keep that power by promising the envious that the envied willbe punished: "The rich will pay their fair share of taxes if I haveanything to do with it.' The truth is that the top 10% of income earners in this country paysalmost 50% of all income taxes collected. I shudder to think whatthese job producers would be paying if our tax system were any more"fair."
You have heard, no doubt, that in America the rich get richer and thepoor get poorer. Interestingly enough, our government's own numbersshow that many of the poor actually get richer, and that quite a fewof the rich actually get poorer. But for the rich who do actually getricher, and the poor who remain poor ... there's an explanation -- areason. The rich, you see, keep doing the things that make them rich;while the poor keep doing the things that make them poor.
Speaking of the poor, during your adult life you are going to hear anendless string of politicians bemoaning the plight of the poor inAmerica. So, you need to know that under our government's definitionof "poor" you can have a $5 million net worth, a $300,000 home and anew $90,000 Mercedes, all completely paid for. You can also have amaid, cook, and valet, and $1 million in your checking account, andyou can still be officially defined by our government as "living inpoverty." Now there's something you haven't seen on the evening news.
How does the government pull this one off? Very simple, really. Todetermine whether or not some poor soul is "living in poverty," thegovernment measures one thing -- just one thing. Income. It doesn'tmatter one bit how much you have, how much you own, how many cars youdrive or how big they are, whether or not your pool is heated, whetheryou winter in Aspen and spend the summers in the Bahamas, or how muchis in your savings account. It only matters how much income you claimin that particular year. This means that if you take a one-year leaveof absence from your high-paying job and decide to live off the moneyin your savings and checking accounts while you write the next greatAmerican novel, the government says you are 'living in poverty."
This isn't exactly what you had in mind when you heard these gloomystatistics, is it?
Do you need more convincing? Try this. The government's own statisticsshow that people who are said to be "living in poverty" spend morethan $1.50 for each dollar of income they claim. Something is a bitfishy here. just remember all this the next time Peter Jennings puffsup and tells you about some hideous new poverty statistics.
And please remember this: The average person in this country describedas "poor" has a higher standard of living than the average European.Not the average "poor" European, the average European. Why has the government concocted this phony poverty scam? Because thegovernment needs an excuse to grow and to expand its social welfareprograms, which translates into an expansion of its power. If thegovernment can convince you, in all your compassion,that the number of"poor" is increasing, it will have all the excuse it needs to sway anelectorate suffering from the advanced stages of Obsessive-CompulsiveCompassion Disorder.
Well, it looks like I'm about to be given the hook. The faculty looksa little angry. I'll bet they've already changed their minds aboutthat honorary degree I was going to get.That's OK, though. I stillhave my Ph.D. in Insensitivity from the Neal Boortz Institute forInsensitivity Training. I learned that, in short, sensitivity sucks.It's a trap. Think about it - the truth knows no sensitivity. Life canbe insensitive. Wallow too much in sensitivity and you'll be unable todeal with life, or the truth. So, get over it.
Now, before the dean has me shackled and hauled off, I have a fewrandom thoughts.
You need to register to vote, unless you are on welfare. If you areliving off the efforts of others, please do us the favor of sittingdown and shutting up until you are on your own again. To the welfareclass I say that we're taking care of you we would appreciate if ifyou would just stay out of our way so we can get the job done.
When you do vote, your votes for the House and the Senate are moreimportant than your vote for president. The House controls the pursestrings, so concentrate your awareness there.
Liars cannot be trusted, even when the liar is the president of theUnited States. If someone can't deal honestly with you, send thempacking.
Don't bow to the temptation to use the government as an instrument ofplunder. If it is wrong for you to take money from someone else whoearned it -- to take their money by force for your own needs -- thenit is certainly just as wrong for you to demand that the governmentstep forward and do this dirty work for you.
Don't look in other people's pockets. You have no business there. Whatthey earn is theirs. What your earn is yours. Keep it that way. Nobodyowes you anything, except to respect your privacy and your rights, andleave you the hell alone.
Speaking of earning, the revered 40-hour workweek is for losers. Fortyhours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don't seehighly successful people clocking out of the office every afternoon atfive. The losers are the ones caught up in that afternoon rush hour.The winners drive home in the dark.
Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, bydefinition, needs no protection.
Finally (and aren't you glad to hear that word), as Og Mandino wrote,
1. Proclaim your rarity. Each of you is a rare and unique human being.
2. Use wisely your power of choice.
3. Go the extra mile ... drive home in the dark. Oh, and put off buying a television set as long as you can. Now, if you have any idea at all what's good for you, you will get thehell out of here and never come back. Class dismissed.
Son
