Over the last week of classes, my students have debated several controversial issues within the field of political science and politics in general. Several of the subjects have involved issues of economic "fairness" (welfare policy, universal healthcare, the bailout, etc.) Here is a story that one of my students shared with me after her debate...
A woman recently asked her friend's little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so the woman asked her, 'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?' She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.'
Her parents beamed.
'Wow...what a worthy goal.' The woman told her, 'But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.'
She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked the woman straight in the eye and asked, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?'
The woman said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party.'
I have since seen this story - in different forms - across the internet. I would change the last line to 'Welcome to the Conservative movement' but that's only because I'm an academic.
Brad
2 comments:
But then the little girl misses out on a great service opportunity!!! :)
Jess,
An excellent observation; however, no matter how the little girl responded she would still be following the conservative ideological line - either she believes in the importance of individuals providing for themselves or voluntarily gives of herself to help another person. Conservatives recognize that effective service and welfare must be given voluntarily, not coerced or forced by government (which is why conservatives give a far higher percentage of their wealth to charitable organizations than liberals.) The true Democratic storyline would have had the woman take whatever money the girl had and give it to the homeless man (or force the girl to immediately go to the store and give the money to him.)
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