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For The Poor
You can’t be for the poor and against the things that end poverty.
You can’t be against the corporations who create the jobs they need to care for themselves. You can’t be against the Walmarts and Targets who sell quality goods at prices they can afford. You can’t be against the drug companies who treat their chronic diseases.
You can’t be against the mining projects that will lift whole communities out of economic depression. You can’t be against the pipelines and energy projects that power prosperity for everyone. You can’t be against the liberation of industry from smothering regulations that limit their job opportunities. You can’t be against their Right to Work. Not if you are for the poor.
You can’t be against parental rights. You can’t be hostile to the religious traditions that keep poor families strong. You can’t be against school choice that gives them a chance to be educated and equipped with life skills. You can’t be against alternative education opportunities that deliver vocational skills.
You can’t be for a political philosophy that celebrates dependence and need. You can’t be for a prohibitionist drug war that incarcerates fathers and empowers gangs. You can’t be for a bloated government that siphons off resources earmarked for poor families and breeds corruption. You can’t be for a caste system of ineffective government programs that assign stations for life based on race. Not if you are for the poor.
You can’t hate the rich and be for the poor. It is not your place to tell another how many steps forward out of poverty you will allow before you punish the next - nobody made you Simon. Each person decides for himself/herself how much is enough, how much to give back, who to give it back to, and in exchange for what. If you are unhappy with how your sister spends her millions, make millions of your own and do with them as you see fit.
We all started out equal – naked, crying, totally ignorant, and 100% dependent. We came into this world fully vested with a complete set of natural rights endowed by God and protected by our Constitution. Equal at birth and unequal at death; what separates us at the end is the lifetime of choices we have made for ourselves. Money, friends, love, knowledge, wisdom, faith, humor, charity, kindness, skill, joy – our wealth in all of its forms is acquired over a lifetime bit by bit.
Good fortune is not announced with cameras rolling and Ed McMahon at our doorstep presenting a six-foot check for millions of dollars. It sneaks into our lives unannounced - disguised as the stern parent, the tough class, the demanding coach, the disability we overcame, the bad job that inspired us to go back to school, the infatuation that turned to lifetime love, the precious child that made us put our childish ways behind us, the business that failed so we could learn how to do it right the next time, the bad break that turned out to be the best thing that ever happened.
Bad fortune doesn’t bother with a disguise. It is the bad marriage we saw coming, the addictive drug we knew we should pass on, the debt we knew we could not afford, the drunken drive we could have avoided, the investment our spouse told us was too good to be true, the bad crowd we were warned against, the classes we skipped, the diseases we brought onto ourselves with unhealthy lifestyles, the job we took despite the bad feeling we had at the interview.
Poverty is not a birth defect or a life sentence. For most of us, it is a curable and transient condition; most everyone I know has tasted it while only a few have acquired the appetite. Longitudinal studies show that over a lifetime, most people born into households below the poverty line rise two income quintiles or more. You cannot be against capitalism and its signature upward mobility if you are for the poor who most benefit from it.
Libertarians do not hate poor people; we hate the things that keep them poor. One of those things is an oversized activist government that breeds dependence. Our goal is not to make poverty bearable; rather it is to make it temporary.
“Moment Of Clarity” is a weekly commentary by Libertarian writer and speaker Tim Nerenz, Ph.D. Visit Tim’s website www.timnerenz.com to find your moment.
Comment
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Comment by Bob Pollard on December 19, 2011 at 2:05pm -
Mr. Nerenz, Wish we had a lot more of you on this website and a lot less of Judson.
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Comment by Dale Miller on December 18, 2011 at 2:46pm -
Tim,
Again, your insight is wonderful. I find it a shame the citizens in our country cannot or will not stop the intrusions on our Liberties! We are beginning to look a lot like Ancient Rome anymore, and will suffer the same Fate.
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Comment by Billy Bowlegs on December 18, 2011 at 11:38am -
Louis
Do you remember George Wallace standing in the door of the UV Alabama not letting the two blacks go to college. Kennedy sent in the Guard. George Wallace (Democrat) stepped aside and smiled. Next day, he got millions from Kenney to Start the Regional level Junior COlleges in Alabama and opened the doors for the blacks. He got voted in next time. POLITICS. While in Alabama for over 8 Years, I learned a lot of their culture. Don't say nothing bad about George the Democrat. That was the good value system - looking out for all the people.
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Comment by Louis R Smith on December 18, 2011 at 11:29am -
Democrats have always had a soft spot in their hearts for large voting blocks. They are very aware of the saying, if you want to help people, "Tell them the truth".(Palestinians are an invented people) If you want to help yourself, "Tell them what they want to hear."(Hope and Change)Democrats don't see us as people that they serve, but as votes that can be of service to them. Before the 1960s, Black people like Republican Martin Luther King Jr knew the truth. I wish they still knew the truth about the Democrat value system. Where a 'vote' can determine whether you are loved or lynched.
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Comment by Billy Bowlegs on December 18, 2011 at 10:31am
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Teach a man to fish, and Government will tax hell out of your fishing pole.
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Comment by Thomas on December 18, 2011 at 5:30am
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Just as cold is the absence of heat and dark is the absence of light, poverty is the absence of prosperity. Though the resources from which prosperity can be produced exist naturally on the planet, prosperity itself must be produced. Prosperity is the result of a continuous, on-going process that produces items that add real material value to the lives of real human beings. The only way that poverty could be made less and then a so-called war on poverty could be won is by producing more of the things that contribute to prosperity.
That means that the only war on poverty that could be won is a war that is fought using strategies and methods that result in the growth of the supply side of the economy. But then that also means that the only place and role for politicians and bureaucrats in a winning war on poverty is to be somewhere in a cage where they will be certain to stay the hell out of the way.
A so-called war on poverty that is designed to do nothing but redistribute and socialize the cost of existing poverty is a war that could not possibly ever be a "war" that eradicates poverty. When an amount of cost goes from the society to governments regardless of for what purpose and then comes back regardless of by what method, the amount of cost that comes back to the society will be greater than the amount of cost that goes to government. It was not by intent but nonetheless, the design of the war on poverty is a design that reduces aggregate prosperity thus increasing poverty--the absence of prosperity.
The Prime Axiom for the sacred balance is "There ain't no free lunch."
Uncle Sam is a pathetic fool and we will all suffer the consequences.
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Comment by Ed Stoneham on December 18, 2011 at 3:04am -
Excellent article!
I would add one thing. Money is basically an IOU for things that a person has done for others. To earn more money, you simply have to do more things for others that they value and are therefore willing to pay you for. To be wealthy, you not only have to get more money, but you have to either save it or put it into lasting investments. No one becomes rich unless they 1) do these things, 2) steal from others or 3) use the government to steal from others. Only the first of these alternatives is good for society. Conclusion: you have to stop the government from stealing from others and force the government to stop others from stealing from others. That is social justice.
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Comment by Louis R Smith on December 18, 2011 at 1:33am
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Thomas Sowell says Give a man a fish,....... and he'll ask for tartar sauce and fries. Then a politician will come along and make it his basic human right.
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Comment by Gary on December 17, 2011 at 8:44pm
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Mr Narrenz, you are a gift to the Tea Party. This post, like evry other one I read by you , is absolute Gold. Thank you once again!!!!
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Comment by Jim Coles on December 17, 2011 at 6:37pm
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When I read the tease up front I thought 'Judson is having a lucid moment,' then I saw the by-line. Great post, Tim!
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