Posted on 12/10/2009 5:52:51 AM PST by shortstop
Here is a question of principle.
Do you take the free money?
When Comrade Obama comes calling, and he’s passing out cash, do you take it? Are you a hypocrite if you denounce the administration’s free spending, but take the administration’s free handouts?
That’s an issue many people face.
If you’re a conservative, and you believe that debt is killing our country and that welfare is bad, do you participate in Cash For Clunkers?
Do you let the government help you buy a refrigerator or insulate your house?Do you drink of the poison you believe is killing your country?
The answer is, “No.”
Whether it’s your car or your stove or your windows. You buy them, you don’t take a handout, you don’t let them hook you on the drug of entitlement or dependence.
You turn down the money.
You didn’t earn it, it’s not yours, you’re not the welfare type.What am I talking about?
An Obama tendency to use taxpayer money inappropriately. He has identified a variety of products that he wants to encourage people to buy by paying them lavishly to do so. Cash For Clunkers was the first and biggest. Thousands of people got welfare checks to help them buy cars.
Next up, in many states, is a system whereby people who buy new appliances will get welfare checks to help pay for them. More than $100 in federal money is attached to many new appliances.
The capper is Cash For Caulkers, payments of up to $12,000 to people who do home improvement. New roof, new windows, new siding or insulation – and a giant check from the Treasury.
Obama says these payments stimulate the economy and help the environment. They bolster retail and home-repair businesses, and they give people cars, appliances or homes that are easier on the environment.
And the money is nice.
A few thousand on a new car, a hundred or so on a new appliance, several thousand to doll up your house.
Who wouldn’t want money like that?
A person of principle.
A self-respecting person of principle who doesn’t want to taint his integrity with the filthy lucre of American destruction.
Welfare is like urine, it doesn’t take very much of it to ruin a perfectly good milkshake. And these programs are all welfare. One-hundred percent, unadulterated, soul-destroying welfare.
And patriotic Americans must say, “No.”
Sorry. I know that’s not what you want to hear. But that’s the honest response.
And in your heart you know it’s right.I apologize to friends who sell appliances, cars and windows. I apologize to people who would like to cash the checks.
But let’s be consistent.
If the man is putting our country in hock, if he is running our debt through the roof and our taxes to new heights – if his spending is a threat to our financial security and future – we are his accomplices and share his guilt if we cash his checks.
Period.
A person of good conscience must realize that he has no claim on the taxpayers’ dollar. If you want a car, you pay for it. If you want a fridge, you pay for it. If you want new siding, you pay for it.
You don’t take the dole.
You don’t sink to welfare.
And that’s exactly what this is.
The left’s steady spread of the welfare culture has moved beyond lower-income people to the working class and above. The quest to hook as many Americans as possible on the entitlement culture is being pushed forward enthusiastically by the Democrats who control Washington. Like drug pushers handing out free samples, they want middle- and upper-class Americans to become hooked on government handouts in the way lower-income people have.
Put another way, as the net of welfare slavery is thrown ever wider, too many people seem eager to be captured.
And you must resist the temptation.
Some will say that with confiscatory taxes, with Obama’s socialist redistribution going full tilt, getting back a little bit of what was taken from you is only right. But robbery is not justified by becoming a robber. Wrong is not made right by engaging in it.
And no one – including you and me – has a right to taxpayer money to make private purchases. The taxpayer should not be tapped to buy people cars or stoves or windows. It is an immoral taxation, underwritten by debt, and those who participate in it are bad citizens.
Yes, bad citizens.
Because it is a bad citizen who weakens his country by putting unnecessary expenses on its Treasury. It is a bad citizen who leeches off his neighbors. It is a bad citizen who contributes to a debt that is strangling our future. It is a bad citizen who looks to government with his hand out.
Welfare is welfare is welfare.
And these payments and credits are all welfare. They are all unearned money. They are all the sweat of one man’s brow stolen away by government to enrich someone else.
If you want a car, buy it. If you want a dryer, buy it. If you want a new roof, buy it.But use your own money.
Don’t put your hand out and use your neighbor’s money.
Don’t sell your integrity, self-respect, self-reliance and good citizenship for an Obama check.
Those are harsh words. But they are true.
And you know it.
Don’t take the money.
Going to the store later to buy the plastic wrap to “remodel” my windows for winter.
I agree.
gubmint/hussein has nothing to “handout”—it’s all our money taken by force. we allow them to take our money w/o a fight, but you think we should squeal when it is shoved back?
matter of fact, gubmint is a fictitious non-entity, much like a corporation, a parasite.
>> Do you drink of the poison you believe is killing your country?
And send your children to drink it too? Because the #1 poison is public school. It is the most toxic welfare program ever.
I don’t qualify for any of the current tax rebates, but I think he’s taking it a little too far by encouraging people not to take a rebate that’s legal. Where does one draw the line? So then, do we not take the child tax credit on our tax return? Or do we turn down Medicare or SS? They’re entitlements too.
One might argue, well we paid for them, but the money for the rebates is coming from the taxpayer, i.e. us, so we paid into that too.
I just think the logic is faulty in turning down one kind of tax credit/rebate and not turning down all government entitlements.
I will in all cases vote against such programs and the proponents of, such programs. I’d prefer a simple flat tax but if such programs are going to be the law of the land then I will use them as I am legally entitled to reclaim some of my money.
I will take the personal deduction on my income tax. I will take appropriate deductions for my dependents. I will deduct long term capital losses from my gains and make use of all other deductions available to me. Should I have school aged children and find the local school system sufficient then I’ll make use of the school system I paid for.
Your paying for the welfare anyway, might as well get something back for it. In that light, I think a taxpaying citizen can oppose these programs but still participate. How many of us are rejecting/going to reject, our Social Security checks?
I agree with gunnyg. It’s too late to whine about it when you’re getting the money back. Especially when it’s a tax credit which is effectively reducing the money going to the government (albeit after them laundering it).
In fact, I would go further and encourage everyone to take advantage of as many government benefits as possible these days.
The reason: we seem to be too far along to reverse this course of reckless spending and high taxes. I don’t think the sheeple are going to wake up anytime soon. The logical course of action then is to help hasten the end and use the money to buy firearms and otherwise prepare your family for the coming collapse.
For years I have done concerts for the elderly, music therapy for People with Alzheimers, Music lessons for Special needs children, etc.
People are forever telling me to apply for “Grants”.
In other words, “Free money”, at the Taxpayers’ expense.
So far, I have resisted, but it bugs me when I see people with lower quality programs doing it. So while I struggle to get legitimately paid for my work, I am also paying my taxes and paying for the HACKS to compete with me to do inferior programs for “free”!
Since I paid more than 50K last year (and stand to do the same this year) in federal income tax, you’re damn right I’ll take it because it’s mine.
If you have a valuable service to offer and can get funded with grants then go for it.
If the govt were offering bids for an outright contract you’d do that, right? This is simply how the govt decides to distribute some of *our* money.
You have as much right as anyone. As long as you believe that you are not “wasting” public funds then it’s fine.
On the other hand, the quicker the Beast on the Potomac is sucked dry the quicker it will collapse.
The classic dilema of princilpe vs pragmatism.
Take the money....
I intend to just like I took the money for first time homeowners. In principle the money is mine. As a pragmatist and extreme Capitalist I will take back what is mine any day any time.
How about if I only take up to the $40K that I pay in Fed taxes? That would make things even.
“On the other hand, the quicker the Beast on the Potomac is sucked dry the quicker it will collapse.”
I agree, and i will take anything i can get. i don’t do it to enhance my lifestyle, i do it to save money to pass on to my grandkids because they are the ones that will be paying off this massive debt.
Since this money has been stolen from our household, I feel no moral qualms about getting some of it back. If we can save a little on insulation, a little more can go into college savings for our sons. I vigorously oppose these giveaway programs and the political hacks who create and sustain them. However, since my fellow citizens insist on electing these power-hungry socialists, "free money" programs keep growing. As long as they exist legally, I will use them. If by returning money to productive families, it keeps it from going to those who have not earned it by the sweat of their own brow, the end result is, in some respects, more morally correct. If we knew that the money we "leave on the table" would go to paying down the debt, I would tend to agree with your position. Unfortunately, we know that our elected representatives have no intention of behaving responsibly with our money.
They're giving away OUR money - the more we take, the less they have to give to someone else. I say take advantage of EVERY government giveaway that you can. The sooner the bankruptcy occurs, the sooner recovery can occur. There's two ways to starve this beast that was once a government of the people - give less, and take more.
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