Thoughts anyone?

[Smurf]

I read this and thought it might bring on some interesting discussion.

A thought to remember, Marx said, "Remove one freedom per generation and soon you will have no freedom and no one would have noticed."

There was a chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class.

One day while the class was in the lab, the professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter.
The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting Communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime.

In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question.
He asked: "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line.

The young man said that it was no joke. "You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free food.
When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence.
They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side.
The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.
Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity."

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America & Canada. The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare entitlements, medicine, drugs, etc., while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time.

One should always remember two truths:

There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

If you see that all of this wonderful government "help" is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America & Canada, you might want to share this with your friends.

If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life, then you will probably not share this.

BUT, God help us all when the gate slams shut!


Think about this
Quote for today: "The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living."

Brings to mind "free electricity", "$10.00 day care" "subsidized electric cars" and so many other things. I actually see a lot of truth in the story. Are we ruining our country by trying to fill the troughs more and more? If so how can we correct it? Lets try to keep it away from just political bashing or whatever as all parties are guilty of it one way or another.

[JLives]

Government isn't captivity. It's the tool used to do things together to improve our collective lives. It's whatever we make of it. I'm thankful for programs that help people and do not view government as the bad guy.

[Smurf]

You don't think they are or could be going overboard. How much can we afford before it starts to break us all? There is a big difference between needy and lazy.

[Atomoa]

I cannot wait until we stop seeing these chain mail anti-commie posts.

Baby boomers can't kick off soon enough.

[my5cents]

Which "freebie" do we, in Canada, eliminate or cut back on ? health care, minimum wage ? mandated annual vacation ?

Should we elect a PM who will "make Canada great again" ?

I invite everyone to seek out and watch "Where to Invade Next", a Michael Moore Documentary. It's available on Netflicks.

[JLives]

You don't think they are or could be going overboard. How much can we afford before it starts to break us all? There is a big difference between needy and lazy.

No. I think we can do more. I want to see a guaranteed minimum income instituted. And instead of subsidizing daycare set up more spaces. Hire people. Do you know the waitlist for afterschool care is at least 2 YEARS long? Capitalism is failing miserably to fill that need.

[What_the]

I see this concept when it comes to road safety and it drives me nuts. a person will go on about how other drivers are risking that person's life oblivious to the idea that that person is already risking their own life just by getting in the car. Somehow everyone else is responsible for that person's safety. It's inherently dangerous operating a vehicle and IMO that risk has to be accepted and leveraged, meaning - I could be killed or injured partaking in this activity but the benefits out weigh the risk.

The nursery rhyme Ring around the rosie is about the bubonic plague, when children were singing it at the time 17th century it meant a grisly and untimely death where any one in Europe knew exactly the consequences and meaning, now we sing our kids to sleep with an anecdote of a most gruesome and deadly time in history.

Families used to consist of large numbers of kids and I've been told that parents would try not to get too attached to the youngest simply because the odds were that they would die. Now we spend significant resources on saving one child that has a life expectancy of ten years. (FTR, I'm not in any way suggesting we don't) Its just the way it was back then and not even a hundred years ago.

My point is, after a while of having something so good for so long, we tend to forget that life isn't meant to be safe or fair. Not to say certain risks can't be mitigated.

Communism is still the enemy, yet for our species to prosper we depend on each other, for survival. We're all socialists, it's how we came to be but today this fact is lost on the many and individualism is the new mantra

So in other words, the pig metaphor is true, however there are certain contextual truths missing since our huge populations and level of organization and communication are unprecedented.

[Lady tehMa]

I think that the reason many people like the idea of socialist/communist policies is because for many years now our society has been abrogating responsibility. There are no consequences or few consequences for not fulfilling our duties. The cry of every addict and most welfare recipients is "It's not my fault!".

I have taught both my children that "no means no" and that regardless how a woman dresses, it is not an invitation to rape. I have also taught both my children that you shouldn't dangle meat in front of a starving dog. I am not victim-blaming here, what I am saying is that their actions can have consequences they did not intend and they ought to think things through, thoroughly. I have a son and a daughter and the message applies to both.

There are many things which no longer have consequences because idealists and society declare it should not be so. Have tons of premarital sex and get an STD or get pregnant? Obviously it wasn't their fault. Show up to work late and get fired? Not their fault. Decide that drugs/alcohol are perfectly fine for fun, then get addicted, brain-damaged or dead? Not their fault. Want to do whatever they want without accepting any responsibility at all? Not their fault, get the government to clean up their mess (wipe their bottoms and tuck them in to bed).

People nowadays are aging - but they aren't growing up or maturing anymore. They hold on to the childhood state of irresponsibilty as if it is their right to never grow up; they also want everything provided for them. And who does that? The government.

[MAPearce]

Government isn't captivity. It's the tool used to do things together to improve our collective lives. It's whatever we make of it. I'm thankful for programs that help people and do not view government as the bad guy.

SLAM THE GATE !!!

[Even Steven]

I bet in reality there was no professor, there was no wise student, the whole argument was made up just to deliver the ideology drivel - "government is bad".

Why even bother discussing this BS.

[What_the]

I bet in reality there was no professor, there was no wise student, the whole argument was made up just to deliver the ideology drivel - "government is bad".

Why even bother discussing this BS.

Because it interested the OP, and then it interested me, and now it's interested you. Kinda neato, hey?

[Smurf]

Yes I am interested because I always wonder where the happy, sustainable point is. Where do we change from helping to causing problems. At what point do some people just need to start helping themselves. Can we set up a system where they do what they can and we give them enough to get them over the hump. Is workfare part of a reasonable solution for those that are capable. I am 100% for helping those that actually need it, but I feel that I see to many abusing it. I actually have some sort of distant family members that are currently pushing that line. Young, perfectly healthy, nothing to hinder them, but they would like to sit home and live however they can on public funds than work. They seem to figure because they can't start out in a $20.00 plus an hour job that requires little or no work they just shouldn't work. I know the story I started with is exactly that, a story but it does kind of get to the point.

I saw something last night where someone said we have enough wealth in Canada to see to it that everyone has a good life. I totally agree with that but my problem comes with the fact that most of that wealth is held by a few but most of the money for these programs comes from the many, most of whom can't afford it without getting in trouble themselves. Even if it is only taking away their ability to save for retirement, meaning we will end up supporting them in the end also. How can this be handled fairly to everyone. Why should I bust my butt all my life to give it to someone else that actually doesn't need it and end up with nothing myself.

[Terris]

No choice; or agendum interuptus?

[JollyGreenBully]

^The above post has to be some sort of joke. People who attempt to change their sexual orientation quite often end up committing suicide. Why do you think Ontario became the first province to ban it and it's likely to be banned soon in all of Canada?

The so-called "doctor" who thinks changing sexual orientation needs to be explored more should have his head examined before he ends up with a patient who kills himself.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/lgbt-conversion-therapy-ineffective-and-harmful-critics-say-1.3101838

[BelieveNothing]

Government isn't captivity. It's the tool used to do things together to improve our collective lives. It's whatever we make of it. I'm thankful for programs that help people and do not view government as the bad guy.

What ever WE make of it?

Are you suggesting that WE have a say in Corporation Canada?