A "Gift" That Keeps On Taking

http://www.truthbasedlogic.com ^ | May 1, 2015 | William Flax

[Ohioan]

Almost everyone has heard the phrase, "a gift that keeps on giving"; a reference to a charitable undertaking that encourages beneficiaries in the direction of self-reliance & personal responsibility. Such a gift is likely to involve recognition of important aspects of human nature--a concept or concepts that encourage individuals to identify & employ actual talents--that inspire beneficiaries to solve real problems, rather than look to others to solve those problems for them.

[Ohioan]

Here we reject a false "altruism," which posits Humanist folly and the pretense of egalitarian collectivists that Man is merely a creature of his social environment. We deny, not only the truth, but the fantasy that claims a mantle of idealism for such pretensions. No one ever sat in a class-room with his or her equal on either side--unless an identical twin or triplet;--and we recognize that the most significant trait of Mankind is not an abstract glorification of things that are not true, but vast & useful variations in the complex of qualities, aptitudes, motivations & aspirations, of actual people, who have benefited unique communities, down through the ages.

[Steely Tom]

I may be wrong, but my memory is that the slogan “The Gift That Keeps On Giving” was coined by Kodak for one of its consumer camera products. Instamatic, probably. It was part of Kodak’s “Open Me First” Christmas marketing effort.

[Ohioan]

It might be; but the usual use of the term is illustrated by the “teach a man to fish” example, that I cite. Anyhow, the subject, of course, is the destructive “gifts” of the Left in undermining the incentives to self-improvement & personal responsibility.

[Ohioan]

Here is a quotation more directly to the point:

While the Egalitarian mantra, endlessly suggesting an entitlement to equality of condition, obviously tends to corrupt the poor; that same endless iteration takes much of the emotional bloom from high achievement. It has even worked to embarrass some high achievers into going to great lengths to atone for their good fortune, by financing political campaigns of those who aggressively embrace an Egalitarian agenda. Indeed, it has become difficult in some years, for political candidates, who endorse the economic & social freedom that allowed others to amass great wealth, to raise adequate funds to compete against Egalitarian candidates who support redistribution of wealth schemes that would confiscate much of the fruits of the labor of those who actually contributed the most to the over-all well being of their communities.

[Ohioan]

Couldn’t link this in the other thread. Maybe this will work.

The insanity of Egalitarianism is behind almost every Leftist movement, since the French “Reign Of Terror.”

[TontoKowalski]

Thank you. I enjoyed my first brief scan of it, but I will need more time to digest what you have to say in the article.

I appreciate your kindness in finding the link and pinging me to it.

[Ohioan]

No problem. I share your outrage at the idiocy that would destroy our Western Heritage—for that is surely at stake. Responsible parents read to their children both for mutual enjoyment of our cultural heritage, but also to give those children every advantage that they possibly can. The latter is what responsible parents have always done.

[Ohioan]

Here is another sample of the article:

But it is not just the over-all material well being of a community that is burdened by the gift that keeps on taking. Consider the damage to the spirit of a community, once the less successful in that community are taught to resent the more successful--to demand some form of redistribution;--or, indeed, once high achievement, in itself, ceases to be honored; once what actually works to a common betterment is no longer emulated, only analyzed in order to disparage all that flows from human inequality & the division of labor!

[Ohioan]

Bump

[Ohioan]

Bump

[Ohioan]

bump