One of the biggest issues I have with my friends on the left is that they seem to not understand the benefits of work. And I mean any and all work. In many instances, those on the left would rather people have no jobs at all and rely on the state rather than have a low-wage job that, while not paying much, offers them the opportunity to learn, be responsible, and better appreciate the value of money.
The rise of the welfare state is one manifestation of the left’s disdain for work, the arbitrary imposition of minimum wage laws is another, but so is their hatred of Wal Mart. So, I was interested in this article in which a young man who has obviously gone on to bigger and better things, got his start working at Wal Mart. And, what did he think about the job? He said, “Overall, I spent about two years at Walmart. It was a great experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything.”
Obviously, this attitude about work and his willingness to learn, helped him excel in life and led him to where he is today. And he’s not alone. I did not work at Wal Mart, but I did work at Kmart and I learned a lot. I was blessed to be given the opportunity to work in a wide variety of roles from shoes to the garden center to hardware and electronics, not to mention checkout and carts. It was a great experience.
Even better than that was my time as a golf caddie (to this day the job I’ve held for longer than any other in my life 11 years). Simply put, that job was one of the most important experiences of my life helped teach me that if you don’t work, you don’t get paid (and we got paid in cash, so I appreciated not having taxes taken out), customer service, communicating, and I got to learn the game of golf, get exercise, and be outside all summer long.
Unfortunately, rules and regulations thought up by some well-intentioned lawmakers and bureaucrats make it harder for young people to work and learn the value of a hard day’s work. It is, ironically, the young people who are missing out when politicians intervene to “protect” them.
I am scared with where our country has gone since the 1930s, where welfare seems to be the ‘job of choice’ these days, and the current administration hellbent on getting more entitlement programs in place. Until the government–at all levels–makes all public assistance for those who are not declared mentally ill, far less lucrative than a real job, then we taxpayers will continue to be hit with higher taxes to pay for those who are lazy and make bad choices. People receiving welfare (food stamps, housing allowance, medical care) in ANY form should be tested for drugs, and their welfare pulled when they test positive. The government needs to provide more oversight to all entitlement programs–the fraud, waste, and abuse are all out of hand. They get these programs in place and completely ignore their evaluation and oversight. The government needs to not give out welfare to any high school dropout–period! This government at all levels is so so stupid–continually giving people who make stupid choices my hard-earned tax dollars. At times I worked 3 jobs to stay above water, jobs I did not like, low-paying in most cases, but worked at to provide for my family. The rest can do it, too!
When I talk to employees at CYFD (who will remain anonymous), I hear about all the ‘rights’ given so-called parents on drugs, with no proof that the money provided goes to caring for the children. The criminals in these cases (and they are criminals) are treated with kid gloves–and it is time to take them off! Women having babies out of wedlock, one after another? They should receive NO welfare–get it from their impregnators, or take their children away from them. They have already proved they are incompetent to care for children without a visible means of support! We pay highly for interpreters in our courts (particularly CYFD) to translate for illegal immigrants and even citizens who refuse to learn English! This is America, for God’s sake–learn English! Using MY tax dollars to fund programs for drunks and sex addicts in our prisons? No, it has already been proved that these programs are mostly unsuccessful. If you are going to have them, then charge the inmates! Letting DWI offenders off as easily as we do needs to stop. In fact, if the initial punishment were at least half way strong (a minimum of 6 months in jail and vehicle seizure), you wouldn’t have stupid people getting into their vehicle drunk. But our government is too wimpy and too afraid. Pathetic, just plain pathetic.
And then we have the idiots in this city complaining about the police shootings. The first letter in today’s letters to the editor in the ABQ Journal (4/29) hit i on the nail–these officers are getting idiots off the streets for the rest of us. Hello, the police aren’t shooting at upright citizens!. They are shooting at criminals who just don’t get it. APD is doing a great job, despite the fact we have stupid people living here who don’t think they are. But that is what you get in a state with a pathetic high-school graduation rate–uneducated people making stupid decisions, not to mention people without any common sense.
I could go on and on.
I think it is a bit of a stereotype asserting that those on the left are “anti-work” in some way while those on the right are not. I would love to see some sort of empirical evidence of this. I am liberal in many things (not immigration) and have been supporting myself since I was 16 (Iḿ 65). Macdonalds was just getting started in the San Fernando valley when I was a kid. I never worked for them but have worked for a Walmart like store (White Front, shoe dept, ) in Oakland, The work is boring and repetitive in these big chains that dumb everything down to make things more efficient and train and pay bottom level people less. I would have preferred working at a more interesting place but you take what you can get.
On a personal basis, many liberals are certainly “pro-work,” but the policies they often support are obviously “anti-work.”
Though you haven’t got an actual reason to “Go Galt”.