Stop Being a Bum and Support Your Own Family |
Rarely in human history has any one event led to such a confluence of stupid insights, ridiculous analogies, and unsound premises than the Iran War, but of all the idiocy of its critics, the most irritating is the notion that the United States performing its most important role – defending our country – is somehow undermining its alleged obligation to feed and otherwise subsidize the basic needs of all all Americans (and, presumably, the illegal aliens these critics love so much). “You know, all this money we’re spending on bombing the people who want to either convert us to their bizarre, pagan, apocalyptic religion, or murder us, could’ve gone to buying school lunches!” Well, I have a better idea. How about you pay jerks for your own kids’ lunches? And for your own lunches? How about you people support yourselves?
You see what the underlying argument is, and it’s pretty cunning the way they just sort of assume it and expect you to argue on those terms. What they’re saying is that the United States government – that is, we hard-working taxpayers, as opposed to the parasites with their palms up – has an obligation to perform the most basic tasks for every citizen. But we don’t. See, you should buy your own food. And you should buy your own housing. And, more so, you should buy your own healthcare. None of that should come from the government as some sort of right, an invisible universal basic income for the permanently indolent and perpetually aggrieved.
It’s time to get back to first principles, and the very first principle is to take care of yourself and your family. Billionaires didn’t make anybody poor. Being lazy, stupid, and making bad decisions did.
Now, let’s make some qualifications. First, this is a discussion about the role of government. As Christians and Jews, we have certain obligations to the poor that are directed by God, and we should abide by those. Some unfortunates need help, and we should help them in accordance with His Word. But those teachings also make clear that you are expected to care for yourself, barring unusual circumstances. Nor is this a discussion about true safety nets, where somebody........