Who Should Work In America

From pretty early on I knew that I was going to college.  I also knew that I would be going to get a degree that would help me get a job.  By the time I was a sophomore in high school I was having conversations with the guidance counselor about degrees and programs.  There were two key metrics in the decision-making process:

  1. How much did various occupations pay.
  2. What was a day in the life.

After graduating high school I loaded up my car and was off to MIT.  For those of you who just choked on your Sweet Red Muscadine Wine, the MIT I went to was the Minnesota Institute of Technology; not the other one 😉

I can distinctly remember sitting at my make shift desk under the lofted bed my dad and I built back home.  As if it were yesterday!  I remember sitting there pouring over notes and books and struggling through a 4 page calculus problem; probLEM, not probLEMS.  I finally finished and the answer was wrong.  I had the distinct pleasure of doing it all over again.

While that memory exists and I smile at it now, it’s the next memory that I remember more.  The one where I break my trusty Ticonderoga #2 lead pencil and throw it against the wall and scream, “Why am I doing this?”

See, my roommate was a CLA student.  Those of us in the Institute of Technology laughed at CLA students.  We laughed at them for a lot of reasons but most of all we laughed them because, well, just because they weren’t IT students.  They attended what the UofM calls the College of Liberal Arts.  Anyway, my roommate took soft courses.  Played guitar, smoked a ton of weed and just hung out all the time.  He was the guy that got mad because the professor made him wear shoes to class.  And I was working on a 4 page problem; twice.

Now, in full disclosure, I didn’t graduate from Minnesota’s MIT.  Rather, I transferred to a small state school and took my degree in Mathematics.  But the mindset didn’t change.  The answer to the question of that raging 18-year-old kid sitting in the dark of his dorm room struggling with math remained the same, “I am doing this for my wife and unborn children.”

I sacrificed then and do so now so that my family has.  Just has.  Has stuff.  A home, a safe car, heat and food.  They have an education and a life experience.  I studied and then worked and now still work so that they have.  And when I’m dead and gone it’s my desire that they get.  Just get.  Get the stuff that I didn’t get around to giving ’em when I was alive.

And tonight I’m watching O’Reilley and he has this guest on his show, a progressive think tank lady, and she is discussing wealth and Romney and taxes.  And Bill asks her what she thinks he should pay in taxes?  He cedes that he’s not only in the top bracket but he’s in the 1%.  What should his tax rate be?  Her answer?

I don’t know, mid 40’s maybe?  But your kids should have to work.

Can you imagine that?  She has the nerve to sit there, a champion of the poor and downtrodden, and have the gall to insist that the rich not only pay “their fair share”, but insist that their children work.

You won’t find a liberal alive that would insist that a welfare recipient work for that handout.  You won’t find any liberal alive that would insist an unemployed individual show up to an office and work to find work.  You won’t find a liberal anywhere that would require work in order to qualify for food stamps.

But the rich’s kids?  They by God, THEY have to work!

6 responses to “Who Should Work In America

  1. So you say I’m NOT liberal? OK, I guess I’ve always considered myself independent. But I’ve always thought welfare should be tied when possible to community service and work. I’ve also always thought that children should work when they turn 16 to learn about real world work (so I’d say O’Reilly’s children should work too). People who work while in high school and college usually value work and their degree more than people who are just pushed to college by parents.

    • But I’ve always thought welfare should be tied when possible to community service and work.

      An interesting thought would be to have the money given to them in person by citizens who were being taxed. When you see that you are being given money, it may change you.

      I’ve also always thought that children should work when they turn 16 to learn about real world work

      Younger if fine by me as well. Lawn mowing, paper routes or shoveling snow are fine occupations for kids.

      People who work while in high school and college usually value work and their degree more than people who are just pushed to college by parents.

      Or who never even work at all.

  2. One quote to think about: “Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.” – Herman Melville

    I think the idea that social welfare is somehow just taking from hard working folk and given to people who want handouts is often based on a very warped notion of what poverty is like and why people are poor. Most poor – and most recipients of welfare – would rather have jobs and be able to support themselves. A small subclass become addicted to dependency, which is very sad and should be combatted, but just look at the cost of social welfare programs during the recession. When jobs are available, we get unemployment rates down below 4% and the work force expands. When the economy goes south we get unemployment near 10% AND the work force contracts. People want to work if jobs are there!

    • A small subclass become addicted to dependency, which is very sad and should be combatted

      Much good would be done to the truly needy if the Democrats and liberals would verbally assert that and take actions to combat that abuse.

      We know that conservatives are more charitable than liberals, but conservatives don’t want that money wasted. Assure them that it isn’t and they’ll gladly donate.

  3. Liberals view child labor through the prism of children picking slate from the coal breakers and children being hired at slave wages in 19th century textile mills.

    • Liberals view child labor through the prism of children picking slate from the coal breakers and children being hired at slave wages in 19th century textile mills.

      Yup.

      I started working when I was 10; been pullin’ a paycheck for 33 years now!

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