People: Slavery Okay When It’s For A Nice Reason
by Mr. Ogre on Oct 6, 2010 at 16:12 Political
I’m not really amazed at the reaction to most people to the fire in Tennessee, I just wish more people would think with their minds instead of their hearts. I wish people would do what they wanted to, but at the same time allow me to be free. Sadly, I’m in a tiny minority in America today.
In case you missed the “front page” news, a man in Tennessee burnt down his house. Now he, and a lot of other people, are mad that there weren’t slaves there to extinguish the fire for him. In fact, on the web site linked, the simple poll there indicates that 75% of people who read the story and voted, fully support slavery and believe that everyone (except themselves, presumably) should be slaves in America instead of free.
Here is the story, in brief: A man was offered insurance on his house. For $75 a year, a group of people would provide a fire truck, firemen, and a method to attempt to extinguish his house, should it catch on fire. The man made the choice to not pay the $75. Then, when his house caught on fire, he (and many others) are very angry that some people were not forced at gunpoint to pay for putting out the fire in his house.
Hey, Mr. Cranik, I’m real sorry that your house burnt down. No, I’m serious. I wish it hadn’t happened. And in fact, if I were in position to, I’d be glad to help you out now. However, at the moment, I’m losing about 50-70% of the earnings I make to the government, so I’m kinda broke. I would suggest you head on over to your local church and ask for help, I bet they’d be happy to help you.
But sadly, so many people, Mr. Cranik included, think that they are owed things by “the government.” People are upset and angry that “the government” didn’t show up to save Mr. Cranik’s home. This is just another illustration of people today that expect that things should be handed to them, and they shouldn’t have to do anything to get them. He was offered fire coverage, and he refused it. But now its government’s fault that they didn’t show up and give him something for free.
The part that so many people ignore or don’t care about is that government is literally incapable of producing anything. Instead, the ONLY way that government can provide anything to anyone at any time is to first take that something from someone else by force. In simple terms, the only way government could have showed up and put out Mr. Cranik’s fire would be for government to first come to my house with guns and take money from me to pay the firefighters and pay for the equipment. It indeed shows how far from freedom we have come to know that so many people believe that it is “right” to steal from me to provide for Mr. Cranik.
Certainly, some liberals will attempt to take this post and make moronic claims like, “Oh, gee, you don’t care about Mr. Cranik, and you want people to die in fires” and “How would YOU feel if YOUR house got burned down?” But of course, that’s all self-projection and outright lies. I honestly care about Mr. Cranik. But I also care about freedom. And I think freedom is a hell of a lot more important than feeling good about yourself at the expense of others.
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Tags: fire, government, insurance
What if there had been people inside? What if the family had actually paid but were mistakenly thought not on the list? Any number of things can happen in a situation like that. The fire department should have put the fire out and then assessed the situation after the fact. If the man had not paid slap him with a large bill for the work. If he had paid then no one is harmed. It’s drop dead simple.
See, I’m fine with a fire department charging $75 to get coverage and there being penalties for not paying. I’m not fine with the fire department watching a house burn down with everything a family owns in it including the pets. What the fire department did is utter horse crap and everyone with a brain knows it.
What if the fire department was fighting Mr. C’s fire and a house inside the city “with people in it” burned down because they weren’t available?
What if a meterorite lands on your head?
What you describe could happen to any department. The department’s duty is to do their very best. Their duty is not to check a list to see who’s covered and who’s not and deny service.
The “What ifs” you postulate are meaningless — because they’re just not true. Based on your scenarios, you support my initial position — that you believe everyone should be slaves, because something might happen to someone and everyone would be dead if magical government didn’t save everyone from themselves. Thank you for continuing to make my points for me. You seriously hate freedom. I don’t want you to change, I don’t mind if you want to be in slavery. I just wish you’d leave me alone to be free.
Yes, I hate freedom. Die freedom, die! More taxes, more slavery, more G-men with guns taking our life and our liberty! Yay!
Look, I’m sure I’m not the first person to break this tragic news to you but whatever it is you imagine freedom to be has never and will never exist in the United States of America. Sorry. That’s a shame, I know. Sounds like a real great place…
What Mr. Ogre (and many more) know, is that “that” freedom DID exist once upon a time, but progressives have “nibbled” away like the common corrosion they are, until we are but a shadow of our former self.
Many of the Tea Party people are mocked because they (and I) believe that the education of our youth is not the purview of the Federal government, and taxes are the people’s money, not the Federal Government’s- and most of the massive bureaucracies should be eliminated, and private interests allowed to take over- these interests would ALWAYS do a better, more cost-effective job than the federal government.
Now back to this “place”- if you do not see the massive, awful changes in our country, you are either a progressive, or Helen Keller- and I submit, even SHE would know something was very, very wrong.
At least you admit it. Its rare to find a liberal who will admit their hatred.
As for freedom, it used to exist in America, but true, it has not for over 150 years. That doesn’t mean I don’t want it, and it doesn’t mean it would be a great place to live. Freedom works, every time its tried, unlike socialism, which fails every time its tried. And socialism always results in government killing innocent people, while freedom never does.
The problem is social democratic policy is not socialism. It never has been. It never will be. Any socialist will tell you that.
That fact doesn’t stop the right in America from accusing the left of being socialist or wanting to move America toward socialism though of course. It’s fun to throw around socialism I’m sure. It’s a good scare word these days.
Adam, you’ve made your position quite clear — you don’t like the position of freedom. You believe that I should be your slave because it makes you feel better. So I wonder, why do you read this site? The posts at this site assume that freedom is a right. You take the opposite position. So why do you read these posts and make comments?
Fine. Before you write me off as some “freedom hater” or something equally silly then let’s talk serious about this stuff.
Clarify what the “position of freedom” is and why you think I don’t like it.
Also please clarify why you think I believe you should be my “slave” and how that makes me “feel better.”
Sure. Take this post example. You have stated that you think the government should have put out that fire. In order for government to do that, they have to take money from me by using force. That makes me a slave, because I don’t have the option of helping Mr. C. In other posts you have been consistent, describing various things you feel the government should do to “help” people — and the only way that can be done is by taking the product of my labor by force.
My position of maximum freedom is that government should never do anything that people can do for themselves, and government should primarily be used to resolve disputes. That would allow people like me to be free to help people the way I wanted to, and you to help people the way you wanted to — without anyone forcing anyone else to do anything against their will.
“You have stated that you think the government should have put out that fire. ”
I said the fire department should have put the fire out and slapped the family with a larger bill than the $75. Overall though you are correct. I support collecting and spending tax money on things like fire and police departments, emergency services like 911, libraries, and public schools.
Does that alone make me anti-freedom and disqualify me from commenting on your posts? Or is it that I take it further?
I support federal spending on nutritional assistance like SNAP, WIC and free lunch programs, college assistance, unemployment, disability, and health care, etc.
“My position of maximum freedom is that government should never do anything that people can do for themselves…”
That’s fine but I’m missing the part that makes me a freedom hater or someone who thinks freedom isn’t a right.
Which things do you think the government should do which we cannot do ourselves?
Government should ALWAYS be starved financially- I know, we all hate puppies, and children here at this site, Adam- we want them all to die- oh, wait- ~snap~
That was a “socialist” I saw on
TV talking about how “compassionate” she was for being in favor of snuffing out a child’s life because of “perceived” suffering.
Are those YOUR kind of peeps, Adam?
I guess you don’t get government. I’ll explain again — government is literally, by definition, incapable of producing anything. Literally anything that government gives or provides can only be done by first taking from me. So when you say that “government” should provide free lunch for someone else, they can ONLY do it by taking lunch from me. There is absolutely no other way they can provide it.
Therefore, if you support government taking from me against my will, that’s anti-freedom, plain and simple. Your basic position is that you assume that you and government have a right to my labor. That’s slavery. I have no choice in the matter. That’s wrong. It may be “how things work” today, but that doesn’t make it right. If I have a right to freedom, then I should be able to work without asking government’s permission. I cannot. You do not like freedom in the conventional sense. I presume you have a different definition of freedom, but that’s not accurate.
As for qualification for commenting on posts, I don’t know where you made that up from. I simply asked why you read and comment on posts on this site when you are clearly not interested in discussion and are not interested in having your mind changed at all. You don’t want to discuss ideas.
What should government do? Common defense. Contract enforcement. That worked for 100 years quite well, and could work again. Sadly, too many people, like you, strongly oppose allowing me my freedom.
“You don’t want to discuss ideas.”
Sure I do. I simply misunderstood your comment about why I comment here. I comment here to argue political view points and to gather up things to research and learn about that I don’t agree with. I can’t find that on a blog full of people that agree with me 75 to 100% of the time. That is a waste of time.
I don’t mean to say I change my views very often or that I feel like I’ve changed any views for people here. Minds are hard to change anyway, and in politics even more so.
“So when you say that ‘government’ should provide free lunch for someone else, they can ONLY do it by taking lunch from me.”
Well, I’m not sure how you can say I “don’t get government” when what I wrote above was that I “support collecting and spending tax money” on those things. If you find me drifting off into sarcasm against you it’s because I feel very much like you are a broken record that isn’t reading what I write before you continue on with your preaching. That’s not supposed to be an insult, just explaining.
“Common defense. Contract enforcement.”
So do you support some taxation then?
Also who decides what we can and cannot do ourselves? Where do we start?
“Therefore, if you support government taking from me against my will, that’s anti-freedom, plain and simple. … Sadly, too many people, like you, strongly oppose allowing me my freedom.”
You are correct that my definition of freedom differs. I fundamentally disagree with the notion that my hard earned tax dollars are going against my will to those who have not earned it just so someone like myself can feel good.
First of all, earning has many definitions. It’s a shame conservatives have often settled on one narrow meaning of “earned” in order to smear many Americans simply because they cannot sustain themselves 100% without some form of social spending now and again.
Second, I do not believe we earn anything in America in a bubble or that I have a right to 100% of what I have earned or else my freedom is being denied. For me that would be like living in the house I rent and scoffing each time I mail a check for it. I think of our taxes as usage fees for all of the resources and social structures that help maintain our way of life.
That doesn’t mean I agree with all taxes or that I don’t think some people deserve tax breaks. They do, just not the richest Americans that do little to fuel the economy and don’t provide that many jobs unlike middle class Americans who deserve tax breaks more.
I also feel very connected to working class Americans because their hard work makes all of ours lives easier. That’s why I don’t mind my tax dollars going to programs that help them make ends meet from time to time. They’ve earned it by doing the only thing they can do. They work their butts off to put food on the table for their families and in the process they sustain important sectors of our economy.
So you’re here for research and to argue.
My posts are here for, I’ll admit it, partially to complain (about the lack of freedom) and partially to educate and get people to think about things another way. Obviously, we’re here for different reasons.