Website owner: James Miller
Work and Output
The following is from Thomas Sowell. Compassion Versus Guilt. pp. 37 - 39
_____________________________________________________________________________
Work and Output
When I travel through California's vast agricultural areas, the people I see working in the fields under the hot sun are usually Mexicans. So are many of the people who clean the hotels. But when I have been approached by a panhandler in San Francisco or Los Angeles, it has never been a Mexican.
Almost invariably, the panhandlers have been young, healthy-looking whites with middle-class accents. These men remind me of the old English expression, "sturdy beggars."
One nicely dressed young woman with a well-modulated voice looked so different from the image of a panhandler that I was already past her before I realized that that was what she was. But I have seen her again. She works one of the better business districts of San Francisco.
All I can do is walk past such people. To give them money would be to say that they are somehow better than the Mexicans who have to earn their living by helping to feed the rest of society and by keeping hotels and offices clean. How these young, middle-class people get the nerve to ask a black man (whose mother was a maid) for money is beyond me.
What is truly disheartening is what all this means for the future of this country. The whole connection between work and the output we live on is being lost in many people's minds. To many, the country somehow has wealth, which we should all share—and "fairly." The most basic fairness of contributing to the efforts that produced what you want to share escapes them completely.
If this confusion were confined to a few parasites, it would be a minor problem. But it has become the hallmark of our deep thinkers on university campuses and in editorial offices. If you want the connection between work and output to disappear, just say the magic word, "compassion."
That works fine on the printed page—which is the ultimate reality for many of the deep thinkers. Meanwhile, back in the real world, the connection between efforts and results remains exactly what it has always been, for society as a whole. What magic words like "compassion" mean is that some must work even harder, so that others don't have to work at all.
Factory workers will have to put in more time on the job, in order that more welfare mothers can sit home and watch soap operas.
The food that is so nobly handed out in soup kitchens or so efficiently "administered" as food stamps was all grown by somebody toiling somewhere. Why should farmers and agricultural laborers be working under a hot sun out in California's valleys, so that others can lounge around the streets of San Francisco or Berkeley and "do their own thing"?
At one time, people who didn't work were called "bums." Today, they have been sanctified as "the homeless."
No doubt there are some tragic cases among those on the street. And no doubt the media will always find them. But, meanwhile, we are raising a whole generation to believe in fairy godmothers. And to vote for them.
A significant part of those who are out on the street today are there because of past theories of our deep thinkers, for whom theories come and go like teenage fads. A portion of the homeless are mentally ill. Some wander the streets, oblivious to traffic, or become prey to the uglier elements of street life. Instead of getting the medication and protection they need in a mental hospital, they are put out on the street because "in the community" became a fad phrase among those who talk about policy, write laws, and strike moral poses.
How long will we continue to let glib talkers lead us ground by the nose and use us as guinea pigs for their latest theories?
_____________________________________________________________________________
28 May 2024
Jesus Christ and His Teachings
Way of enlightenment, wisdom, and understanding
America, a corrupt, depraved, shameless country
On integrity and the lack of it
The test of a person's Christianity is what he is
Ninety five percent of the problems that most people have come from personal foolishness
Liberalism, socialism and the modern welfare state
The desire to harm, a motivation for conduct
On Self-sufficient Country Living, Homesteading
Topically Arranged Proverbs, Precepts, Quotations. Common Sayings. Poor Richard's Almanac.
Theory on the Formation of Character
People are like radio tuners --- they pick out and listen to one wavelength and ignore the rest
Cause of Character Traits --- According to Aristotle
We are what we eat --- living under the discipline of a diet
Avoiding problems and trouble in life
Role of habit in formation of character
Personal attributes of the true Christian
What determines a person's character?
Love of God and love of virtue are closely united
Intellectual disparities among people and the power in good habits
Tools of Satan. Tactics and Tricks used by the Devil.
The Natural Way -- The Unnatural Way
Wisdom, Reason and Virtue are closely related
Knowledge is one thing, wisdom is another
My views on Christianity in America
The most important thing in life is understanding
We are all examples --- for good or for bad
Television --- spiritual poison
The Prime Mover that decides "What We Are"
Where do our outlooks, attitudes and values come from?
Sin is serious business. The punishment for it is real. Hell is real.
Self-imposed discipline and regimentation
Achieving happiness in life --- a matter of the right strategies
Self-control, self-restraint, self-discipline basic to so much in life