Happy Father's Day

In honor of Father's Day here is something my dad wrote prior to the 2000 election. It's certainly better than anything I've managed to write on here:

Listening to liberal commentators and candidates for election, it is notable how often the American people are placed into subcategories such as the children, workers, elderly, rich, corporate interests, and various racial/cultural groups. Such divisions help to emphasize special concerns of each group and promote the need for multiple government programs to insure that each is cared for/dealt with properly.

Each of these groups have been given a liberal stereotype. The "children" are helpless and have no one to care for their needs (not the parents responsibility). The "workers" are always being exploited by others who must be the "non-workers." The "elderly" always live on very limited means (even though they have had a lifetime to prepare) and are consumed by health costs. Since the workers always need help; not working must be the path to becoming "rich." Only government can protect us from selfish "corporate" greed. Although liberals verbalize the commonality of man, they see a big need for preferential programs to serve separate constituencies. The bottom line is, from each according to their abilities, and to each according to their needs.

Having lived in Washington for a couple years, I did not find a paradise or a race of geniuses whose wisdom was beyond that found in any state or most localities. The growth, affluence, and congestion of the area are awesome as befitting the center of taxation and regulation of a vast and prosperous land. The many agencies are busily redistributing wealth and power to favored causes while justifying their own existence. Lobbyists, like flies to carrion, flock to this vast concentration of power.

Returning from service in WWII, my father resumed his small business as a poultry wholesaler, buying chickens and eggs from farmers and bringing them to the stores in Omaha. A developing back problem (30 dozen eggs to a case), forced him to seek different work. He learned carpentry and, later, contracting on his own while supporting a family. He and my mother taught us the value of hard work, concern for the family, and respect for our country. My brother and I each joined the US Navy when we turned 17 y.o. I paid for college with personal savings, merit-based scholarships, and, after service (including two tours in Vietnam), G.I. bill funding. After marrying, my wife and I both worked; we postponed having children; and I went back for post-graduate study. Now I have a six-figure income. I am still on my first marriage of almost 30 years; we drive Fords; and my two children get no outside aid or tuition breaks toward college costs.

I started out as the child of a working class family. We became middle class. By certain measures, we are apparently considered "rich" although after taxes it doesn't feel that way. As stockholders of various companies, we are attuned to corporate interests. If I live long enough, I will be called elderly. And yet, I am still just a boy from rural Nebraska. Child-worker-parent-corporate-rich-elderly; all that is me. I am not unusual. Working with many people of other races, cultures, and localities, I have always found a commonality in aspirations. The divisions that liberal leaders seek to make are artificial. They seek to separate us; create envy between us; and consolidate power unto themselves; also called Balkanization.

Either the goal of these leaders is personal power, or they do not believe that we as citizens are all truly equal. They don't need someone to oversee their own lives; these programs and regulations are all for the huddled masses who lack the capability to care for themselves. If the lack is not in capability, then the resulting circumstances are simply the result of individuals' poor choices. The enthusiasm of their constituency is bolstered by the promises of a transfer of wealth and legal privilege from opposing interests and the "rich." Sort of like the pirate captain promising his crew "booty" from merchant ship prey.

What I started out with were good parents and secure values. Any wealth I have accumulated is due to appreciation and stewardship of these qualities. The opportunity is there for those who really want it. If we were dividing our family income like a pie between family members and government, the government would get two slices while the rest would each get one. When I hear that liberal cry of class warfare "Tax the rich!", I know that what they are really saying is "Tax the successful." The reason (like the famous bankrobber quote) is that is where the money is. Their thirst for power or belief in their superiority over the masses obscures any regard for issues of personal property.

The difference between success and failure life, to a great degree, comes from within. It is a spiritual quality, not a function of government. Please imagine a sports contest in which the losing team is awarded points because "they were behind." Totally ludicrous from the aspect of scoring, motivation or improvement. The proper function of government is to provide a consistent legal framework of opportunity for all Americans, not fulfill all needs or "fix" the outcome.