Give a man a fish... - Granite Grok

Give a man a fish…

…and you feed him for a day.  Teach him how to fish and he feeds himself forever.

Here’s a bit of a reality check for the expanded ObamaUSA welfareland that wants everyone to be equal in income and that you, Mr. / Mrs. / Ms Obama Voter decided to have over the alternative.  Enjoy that social justice – fish for everyone!  Progressives surely want to give you that daily fish.  All you have to do is go to their welfare office, fill out the forms in triplicate, bring in verifying documentation (that you forg0t – go home and get it), have a social worker come out and visit to verify things, and they will allocate you a fish as soon as possible.  Once the computer system has been updated and the government logistics (er, the same logistics system that FEMA has been using for the last two weeks in NY and NJ – you know, that Obama department that closed down during the Nor’easter as it was too dangerous to help the folks that have lost their homes, lost their power, and don’t know where their next meal is coming from?) has you in its system, you will start to get your daily fish.  Just remember, we either use the politically connected or the lowest bidder as the supplier.

And you may well have to to qualify again – no fair getting the Government issued fish if your “life circumstances” lifestyle changes.

Summary:  Sure, you get the fish at no expense to you BUT

  • You have to go to Government for your daily sustenance (but at no expense to you, Government provides)
  • You have to comply their requirements for your daily sustenance (but at no expense to you, Government provides)
  • You have to follow their rules  for your daily sustenance (but at no expense to you, Government provides)
  • You have to settle for what they give you for your daily sustenance (but at no expense to you, Government provides)
  • There is no upside to receiving a single, solitary fish for your daily sustenance (but at no expense to you, Government provides)
  • You have little or no control for your daily sustenance (but at no expense to you, Government provides)

You are the ward of the State – they will make sure you get the fish from the union fishermen just like the folks on Staten Island are getting their electrical wires replaced by union electrical workers (and no non-union help allow even if you still are hungry and there’s lots of fish in that warehouse).

Once settled “into the system”, you’re there.  You have to do little else – you are catered to (er, that one fish).  You could go qualify for other stuff, but you have the fish. Not much choice in that fish (“what’s yer number?  Cod? Flounder?  Mackeral? No matter, no choice.  Ah, here your number on your fish – what, you didn’t bring your own fish wrap?  No problem, here’s today’s copy of the Concord Monitor).  Not much, I’ll grant you, but it is your government issued fish.  Treasure it, treat it well as the Progressives that have set up this system (“so that you are not a burden on your friends, family, or yourself”) are proud that they provide this “station” in life for you (remember, former Madam Pelosi (ok, former Madam Speaker) has often said that being on unemployment is a social good in that it stimulates the economy).  Feel stimulated?  Yeah, get used to it – the economy didn’t get much stimulated either

Conservatives want better for you – but admittedly, it is a more difficult proposition – you actually need to keep doing something for yourself.  You see  we want you to be successful.  We want you to experience freedom – the ability to choose for yourself.  We will help you, we will help teach you how to fish but that:

  • There will be a personal expense on your part (we will not continuously provide for you).
  • Learning to fish will  require self-discipline – you to first show up.
  • Learning to fish will require self-motivation – work on your part to benefit yourself.
  • Learning to fish will require self-restraint (fish get caught on their own timeline, not yours; we will not teach you four letter words by which to pass the time).
  • Learning to fish will teach you delayed gratification – this process does not mean immediate or even ‘often’ success – there may be times that you WILL fail and you will go hungry).
  • Learning to fish means doing “icky” stuff – like learning to bait the hook with live worms or crawlers.
  • Learning to fish means dealing with bad outcomes – you will learn that sometimes doing a bad cast means untangling a ball of monofilement line
  • Learning to fish means dealing with unexpected happenings – it rains, it gets cold, some fish eats your bait without impaling itself
  • Learning to fish means dealing with the fact that to do it well means investing time in yourself and your trade to better your skills.

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it?  That is another lesson – nothing worth having is free.  However, at the end of it all, you will not have learned to fish – you will have learned self-sufficiency (which really is the point of the whole point of learning how to fish).  It also should, incidentely, teach you how to fish better, faster, and more profitably.

To the point that you decide, hey, I can do MORE!  I can teach someone else to fish too!  No more:

  • Going to Government for your daily sustenance (You don’t need to kowtow to Government)
  • You have to comply their requirements for your daily sustenance (but at your expense as you provide for you)
  • You set your own rules in obtaining your daily sustenance
  • You no longer have “to settle” – if you don’t like what you caught, put it back and go for another
  • There is an upside- you want more fish, keep fishing!
  • You have absolute control over what you get for your daily sustenance

In fact, if you get more fish, you get to participate in free market capitalism: catch more than you need, go to someone else who has “extra” and make a deal and learn that the TRUE free market capitalism is not about greed, it is about self-interest.  It is also, as Dr. Walter Williams said, serving others.

Yes, serving others.  You want that “other thing”?  You have to serve the owner of that “other thing” by providing a fish good enough for that owner to decide that your fish is more valuable to him than his “other thing”.  And if you do not serve that owner well, he will seek out another to supply his own particular need.

So you see, learning to fish never ends.  But say you’ve learned to fish well enough and want to move up – you want to open a tackle shop?

Oof – now you learn another lesson – government is going to be your partner in your venture and will participate in your profits.  And it will definitely “help you” as you will also learn that the Government has a plan for your plan.  And when you become successful, the Government will come and demand multiple fish from you – for the folks who decided the other path.  But that is the subject for another post – how the Obama government (and your State and oft times, your local government) can make it rather difficult for you to pursue your dream of moving on up.

So, which is the moral path?  Being taken care of by others with little choice, or taking the risk to provide for yourself – and others?  The welfare State or the Productive State?

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