Freedom to Fail

**I go in some not kid-appropriate directions.  You’ve been warned.**

I’ve heard Democrat voting described as wanting “the freedom to fail.”  I think that’s an interesting turn of phrase “the freedom to fail.”  From what I’ve been able to glean,  it means the freedom to try all kinds of interesting and bold new ideas without having to worry about starving if they don’t work out.  We have that already, it’s called childhood…or maybe even college.  Once you become an adult, taking responsibility for feeding yourself is part of the package?  Isn’t it?

We have a safety net in our society which is meant to keep people from starving to death if they find themselves in rough water.  I don’t know anyone who has an issue with it.  The problem I see is that what was meant to be a trampoline has become a comfy hammock.   There are people who are trying to use it to jump back into their lives, but it’s too cushy to get any bounce, and the other folks are settling in there and calling for more stuff.  It’s not supposed to be a vacation!

People demonized Mitt Romney when he talked about the 47% who receive government handouts.  It was one of the most honest things I ever heard a politician say, and I was disappointed when he backed away from it.  It is human nature to begin taking for granted the people who voluntarily step in to help.  Most people have had the experience of stepping into the gap to “temporarily” help someone else, but when we try to stop “helping” they get frustrated and angry that we quit.  The same thing happens with the government, we have only to look at the riots in Greece to know that this is true.  When you try to wean people, even the able bodied, off of free stuff they get angry.  Could the solution be to just stop offering the free stuff in the first place?

There comes a sense of entitlement with the idea that things should be “fair.”  I don’t know who the liar is who started the “we need it to be fair” cr*p, but I’d like to smack them.  The idea of “fair” gives other people the impression that they have a right to the things we have worked to earn.  It is not my responsibility to pay for your “Obama-phone“, but heaven help me if I try to stop paying for it.  (Can we stop for a moment so that someone can explain to me why a cell phone is a necessity anyway?  If you have no job, why would you need a cell phone?

 One other thing….why am I paying for your birth control?  Something I find morally abhorrent? Can someone make sense of that for me?  I’ve had discussions with many liberals about it and all I’ve been told is that I’m interfering with a woman’s “right to choose.”  How is my not paying for sex aids for someone else depriving them of anything?  (Especially when, as I’ve been reliably told, they can be obtained for FREE from the health department. )  If a woman is using the Pill in order to be able to have sex which doesn’t lead to babies, and is therefore recreational…..how is forcing me to buy her pills any different than forcing me to buy her a vibrator?  They are both about getting off without getting knocked-up….)

It’s like taking my kids to the toy store and listening to them squeal with delight at all of the things I could buy them, but it’s as if my children brought along the force of the Federal Government to force me to buy all those things whether I want to or not.

Didn’t de Tocqueville say something about how the American Republic would last until the Congress discovered that it could bribe the people with other people’s money?  We’re there.  Half of the country voted on Tuesday to keep living off of the half that doesn’t want to be subsidized.  My only question is…What happens when the 50% of earners decide to quit?