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The Resentment Sentiment (Pursuit vs Laziness) Is it fair?

Posted by LetsShrug 13 years, 3 months ago to Culture
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“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ” (Declaration of Independence).

You do NOT have a RIGHT to the following just because you exist:
Food
Healthcare
A home
A car
A driver's license
A job
A bed
A hot shower
Clothing
Day care
Free rent
Or free ANYthing

You do, however, have the right, and freedom, to PURSUE all of these things, and sometimes it's really really hard work. It is not written anywhere that you HAVE TO pursue happiness, it's up to each individual to decide how happy they want to be and to work toward that accordingly. However, the lazier you are the less happy you'll likely be. Or at least that's the idea.
We have become a society of rewarding laziness on a grand scale. Our entitlement programs cover everything, and more, on the list above, by our social welfare programs (wic, welfare, ssi...) So now we have the laziest of the lazy with every basic need and comfort paid for without any effort on their part. They live comfortably. They have big T.V.s, cell phones, manicures, nice cars, new cloths...the list goes on and on. And yet they have the audacity to be resentful toward those who work hard and have more than they do. The hard workers, in pursuit of their own happiness, now has a big chunk of their earnings taken, by force, by the government (via taxes, fees, fines etc) so the entitlement programs can continue to be funded and support the lazy.

Not only are the lazy resentful of the “rich”, the President actually encourages this sentiment of resentment in his, seemingly daily, media addresses. “Pay your fair share”.... How does HE determine what a person's fair share is? If I earn it, it's mine. THAT'S fair. If you earn it it's yours. THAT'S FAIR. Nobody else has a right to it... taking it from me is, in itself, UNFAIR (and it's also stealing, since when is stealing “fair”.) At some point the tables got turned and now it's “fair” for the lazy to expect the hard workers to fund their happiness instead of pursuing it themselves. Why, or why, are they entitled to anything they don't earn themselves? After all, they have just as much right as I do to pursue happiness, but they CHOOSE not to.

That's the beauty of having rights....they're there for the plucking, but you don't have to do it if you don't want to. What's fairer than that?

There are no negative consequences for being lazy anymore. If you exist then you are entitled to have your basic needs, and more, taken care of by those who work hard everyday. We need to figure out a way to instill a “work hard and earn what you deserve” virtue back into society. These days kids think a farm is a place where they take care of animals instead of realizing that farms are what keep us fed. They think food magically appears on a plate in front of them without any real effort by anyone to make that meal possible. I've said it before, but I'll say it again....there is a direct connection between not having enough to eat, or at least the possibility of not getting enough to eat (hunger), and motivation to work and earn for yourself and your family. As long as we keep taking that possibility off the table (--no pun intended-- ie: feeding people for “free” ), the motivation to work hard, among the lazy, will never happen.


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  • Posted by 13 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Well we can sure as hell stop being quiet about what's really happening. Why is everybody so darned scared to speak about it... it's like taboo or something. I don't get it. We're just lounging around quietly on the beach even though we KNOW a tsunami is coming. Scream and yell and RUN!
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  • Posted by eilinel 13 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I have mixed feelings about this. I'm always looking for ways to reduce my carbon footprint, just because I think it's good for Mom (Earth), which you'd think would make me a natural ally of theirs, but I can't stand the self-righteousness and air of moral superiority.
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  • Posted by eilinel 13 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I wish I believed this. But I think we hit the tipping point with this last election. I'm not sure we can turn it around at this point.
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  • Posted by eilinel 13 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Isn't that pretty much what the bum in AS said? "We all thought about what we could get from the guys above us, not about what the guys below would want from us."
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  • Posted by terrycan 13 years, 3 months ago
    There are more of us than there is of them. Get involved. Especially at the state level. Do you know who your congressman is? More important still does he know who you are?
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  • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 13 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    That's what infuriates me when I hear people speak about the rich needing to give more. It's ludicrous, and I resent that some schlub thinks that somehow my efforts should reward them.
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  • Posted by 13 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yes it is a great introduction for young adults to start thinking about individualism, and over bearing government. It's a start....
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  • Posted by 13 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    But I don't want what belongs to anyone else...they earned it....not me. My sister (who I no longer speak to) once made the comment that the really rich don't need all that money...and I said, "and I'm sure there are plenty who would say you don't need all of your money either. Would you be okay with someone taking what's yours just because you have more than they do??" And this was before I even heard of AS.
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  • Posted by 13 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yeah well....the whole green agenda is just another way to "keep busy" and make new feel good laws and restriction. BLOATED government just finding more ways to rob us blind and make us feel like it's for our own betterment. For those who don't like a hot shower, they don't have to take one...but leave MINE alone.
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  • Posted by Ben_C 13 years, 3 months ago
    There are amazing paralells withour society and government as portrayed in Hunger Games. Most young adults have never heard of Ayn Rand and AS but they all know Hunger Games. As soon as I point out the way government is controlling us and where the consentration of wealth exists their eyes get really big. I then challenge them to read AS and get back to me.
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  • Posted by khalling 13 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    oh, there are plenty of US citizens who strongly believe that and what car you can drive and toilet you can have etc. the irony is so acute. On one hand, they want to add "rights" and on the other they want to take the most basic rights away
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  • Posted by 13 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I don't think the opinions of those out side of America count in this discussion though. :)
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  • Posted by eskslo 13 years, 3 months ago
    It's just like AS. Looters are only trying to live off the carcass of the rich for one generation. They are not far sighted because they simply believe that when they need more another producer will come along after they destroy the first.
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  • Posted by khalling 13 years, 3 months ago
    well said. however, there are those who believe you do not have the right to a hot shower even if you can pay for it. it gets tricky that way too
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  • Posted by 13 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Agreed. My parent's generation (bless their non confrontational hearts) never dreamed this country would be where it is right now. They wish they had paid attention. :( Now it's up to us to fix it or our kids will be God knows where.
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  • Posted by rics_99 13 years, 3 months ago
    Lets face it, WE, the earners have allowed this to happen! In my opinion it started with the Dr. Spock movement! We give trophys to our children these days for losing! We wouldn't want to abuse their little psyche! I realized, after the first election that 51% of the country wants the other 49% to take careof them! We 49% need to "shrug", although I don't think Obummer needs our funding anymore, he will just borrow from elsewhere, print more money! What I can't believe is that we are actually allowing him to destroy our country! It's his plan from the beginning! He is Muslim and was groomed to do exactly what he is doing!
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