I just received an email regarding a cute little talk between a Liberal Democrat daughter and a Conservative Republican father. The jist was that in order to follow the liberal thought process the daughter should have to give up 1 point of her hard earned 4.0 GPA to her slacker 2.0 GPA friend, in order to equally distribute the wealth. The point was suggested that Democracy allows people to be rewarded for hard work.
The punch line? "welcome to the Republican party."
My reply is after the fold.
Equally distributing wealth and the equal opportunity for wealth are two totally different things. Liberals are not for the equal distribution of wealth. (At least not this liberal.)
Taxing the rich is not a penalty for success, or even "re-distribution". It's simply payment for services received. Republicans see it a different way. In their mind, if you have a 4.0 grade point average you shouldn't have to pay the same tuition as the student with the 2.0. It's all about incentives. As if all 2.0 students are choosing their grade point average, and simply need incentives to attain a 4.0. They also say that the student with the 4.0, the one that uses the library the most, should get discounted library fees, while the student with the 2.0 pays more. The truth is the 4.0 students, (aka: Corporate America, the top income earners, the bazillionaires) use the majority of our government services and yet pay less in tax revenue than the rest of us. Does that sound Democratic?
Republican "principals", are so afraid of losing their 4.0 students that they ignore, the rest of the student body's problems. They place a higher social value on the 4.0 students than on the 2.0 students. Liberals don't want everybody to be 3.0 students. And we definitely don't want to limit the 4.0 crowd. We just want everybody to be students. To be allowed equal opportunities to higher levels of success. To provide more competition for the 4.0 crowd. To liberals, creating more students is more important than nurturing the already 4.0 clique.
And, of course, this story is based on two already college students. What about those 0 GPA people that struggle for years to make enough to attend a semester of college? Republicans just cut financial aid, again, to potential college students. When education typically dictates success, and education costs keep rising, Republicans are again dictating who gets educated and who doesn't based on their financial background. That doesn't sound democratic.
They'll also say "no child left behind", but then cut finances to their own plan. A plan where if the students/teachers "fall behind" they're punished with lower funding. A plan where the 4.0 students get the education and the, "special", 2.0 people get the pink slip. A plan where, ultimately, teachers are encouraged to relocate to "smarter" areas where funding will be greater. Is that how we create students? Does that sound democratic?
That second to last sentence kills me! It implies that the poor are sitting back "playing" while the elite "work their tail off"!? Where do they come up with this stuff?
A lady recently stood up at a Bush "town hall" meeting and said, "(she)..was working two jobs just to make ends meet.". Bush cut her off to say, "That's great! That's the American way." During Bush's reign, American incomes have dropped while inflation and pricing keeps rising. Sure it's a win/win for the 4.0 crowd, but not so great for us pesky 2.0 Americans. Especially if the trend of outsourcing our jobs continues. So if the people lose/lose, is that Democratic?
While working two jobs doesn't sound like "playing" to me, I know there are class clowns out there abusing the system. But we can't close schools down because a few students are "playing" at our expense. Again it's harder to create students than nurture the 4.0 clique. Incentives are different for everybody. In the real world, giving 4.0 students "tax breaks", won't make 4.0 students out of class clowns. It also won't make the 4.0 crowd tutor more class clowns, even by a trickle. And more importantly, making the incentive to become 4.0 students purely life or death survival is not Democracy, it's dictatorship.
Just like Capitalism & Democracy, Liberalism is all about choice, progression, innovation and evolution. And we all know what the conservative's think about those things. They wouldn't teach that nonsense to their 2.0 students.
Survival of the fittest works great in the jungle. (Of course, if you're one of the fittest, it really works where ever you are.) But today the fittest are being bred and financially drafted, while the others, the majority, the people, struggle to survive. Did I say survive? I mean "play".
That doesn't sound like Democracy to me.
Welcome to a view from the left.
Side note: I'd also like to mention that in this inspiring case study the two students are experiencing college in two totally different ways, or "lifestyles". How liberal is that! And as any good Conservative will tell you, this story also proves, once again, that the more "liberal" your lifestyle choice, the lower your value will be.
Amen.