Sure, it's OK when it's somebody ELSE'S money!
I have put this under Culture rather than Plain Politics, because this story from Blue Hampshire shows that there IS a culture chasm between Liberals and Conservatives. Once in a while, I go and take a look at the "the other side" - in this case, our "opposite number in the blogosphere here in NH - Blue Hampshire. They had this story and comments - very illustrative of the difference between Liberals and Conservatives
Conservative believe that adults make decisions for themselves generally knowing what is in store for them - and that they should live with their consequences. Eyes wide open sorta deal - self responsibility. Meanwhile, Liberals always want to believe that "the group" should solve everyone else's problems, even if they have to use other peoples money to do it. And they get self-indignant if they aren't allow to do it (or other disagree with them).
Here's the story (emphasis mine):
When a group of fourth-graders came up to Concord to meet legislators and the governor, Lynch said, they came into the executive office looking distraught.
"They told me that they were appalled, appalled, that they had just learned that state representatives only make $100 a year," Lynch said.
The governor said he asked the students to raise their hands if they thought legislators should make more. One by one, hands went up, Lynch said.
"I said, 'Wait a minute. If you want to increase (lawmakers' salaries), you must be willing to fund some of that increase with your allowance money,'" Lynch said. "The proposal failed - unanimously."
Background - State House Representatives KNOW when they run that the stipend is $100 / year. It has been such, for all 400 of them, for decades and decades. No one forces them to run (they are not appointed - in fact many spend more in running than what they receive from this stipend). They know what they are getting themselves into. In short - they are adults.
What I see here is that when a proposition is made to better someone's life, everyone is just dandy about doing something about it. After all, who ISN'T for doing that? This anecdote shows what Conservatives always understand - TANSTAAFL - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. Everything costs something - a point that Liberals seem to miss. It's easy when it is someone else's money and heaven help you if you ever bring up the phrase "cost/benefit ratio" concerning some issues (but I digress).
It is another thing when the point comes directly to a personal sacrifice and it costs you. Most sane people evaluate their world view, their positions, and make a decision based on their individual self-interest. A sane and proper thing to do.
Note: a personal sacrifice. A voluntary action of one's will. Keep that in mind. In this case, the kids did not believe that their sacrifice was worth their investment. Why should they - how would it make things better?
On the other hand, the poster, Dean Barker believes that the reaction of the kids this is sheer Republicanism (emphasis mine):
Adding: If you will forgive me, I will add some words here instead of replying with a phrase or two to the fascinating threads developing below in the comments.
This post is not about John Lynch, unhappy as I may be that he said those words, even in jest. It is about a mindset among far too many Democrats, something I too have been guilty of on occasion.
But no more. George W. Bush and his Congressional enablers, the late ripening and in some cases rotting fruit of the resurgent conservative movement of the Republican party, have laid waste to our country and the world.
Can't you just FEEL the love from the other side of the aisle? As is often the case, it proves the line that Conservatives say "Conservatives think that Liberals are misguided; Liberals believe that Conservatives are EVIIILLL!".
I will not live in a paradigm where the party that gave us a needless, ideologically driven, treasure depleting, reputation tattering, tragic war is commonly perceived as the stronger one on national security.
And this has WHAT to do with upping 400 legislators pay? Oh, sorry - it's part of the mantra - you know, have to start any political rant with this to prove bona fides.
Really? Here where the Dems control every Constitutional office and immediately raise spending budget 17.5% and totally make up the numbers on the revenue side to show a "balanced" budget? And cry "it's the economy!" even as actual revenues are UP over last year - just not enough to cover the profligate spending? That is LESS fiscally sound?I refuse the conventional wisdom that "tax and spend" Democrats are less fiscally sound than the supposed fiscal conservatism of the party that is bankrupting our economy in a slow motion real-time train wreck.
Oh please....
At the national level, the Rs have not behaved well when they had the House and Senate; I'll give you that. But to say what has happened here THAT'S fiscal conservatism by Democrats?
And I especially reject the idea that we should cherish selfishness at the expense of the public good.
Selfishness? You define school kids deciding that their own self interest is selfishness? And framing "school kids not wanting to give their allowance to lawmakers" as anti-public good? Frankly, I thought it was good sense - there was no proven upside to the kids forking it over.
Which seems often to be the case when Dems want to spend - PROVE it to me. In this case, PROVE it to me that upping the legislator pay will yield better legislation! PROVE it to me that our legislators will qualitatively be better (and just a "say so" is insufficient).
If I wanted to live in a Darwinian world I would move in with lions.
Ha! That could be arranged.
Give me society instead, and the higher miracles of civic life that mankind has developed with breathtaking speed over the paltry few millenia preceding us.
Oh please, spare me the collective-mentality thing. It has been individuals voluntarily banding together that has raised us up and not just saying "everyone HAS to give to the group all the time!". All I have to do is look at the relative failure of the collectivist society that Communism gave the world last century to see that it does not work (and killed millions upon millions of people).
In the end, that's the difference between the parties as they currently stand (I am told that in the distant past the GOP had some noble qualities).
For George Bush's Republican party, the question is chiefly "What's in it for me?"
No, you have the question wrong - it is "why can't the government leave me alone? " Why am I being forced, against my will, to acceed to things I believe are wrong with the attendent loss of freedom to choose what I want? Why cannot Big Government types like you realize that B.G. cannot solve all problems and route all evil, nor should it try to (remember, the Great Society turned out to be a rousing failure). Government's job is to defend its citizens, protect their rights and freedoms (instead of incrementally take them away), and provide a platform from which people can achieve (instead of insisting that all share only 1 level of success). It should never be a parent nor a baby sitter (or cause Adults to believe that they need such).
In the world I want to live in, the question always should be, even when it doesn't personally profit me, "What's in it for all of us?"
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Sorry, I believe that freedom is maximized when citizens have the individual zeal to succeed and government gets out of the way. I do not subscribe to this all-encompassing (and all-smothering) mantra of "we're all in this together" except when I choose to join a like minded set of folks for some set amount of time for some stated purpose. Remember, this country was built on the idea of individual freedom and NOT to maximize a group benefit at the exclusion of the individual.
Mr. Barker, individual freedom of choice should never be trumped by the "common good" nor do most Conservatives believe that we HAVE to be part of a group unless we voluntarily choose to do so.
So often, via the use of the tax code, you force compliance to the group.
Wouldn't it have been better to have better ideas that appeal voluntarily?
BTW, if they haven't taken down (or do take down) that post, go read the comments - some of the are really funny (from a conservative's standpoint).
