Thursday, September 13, 2012

The 50 Dollar Lesson


Recently, while I was working in the flower beds in the front yard, my neighbors stopped to chat as they returned home from walking their dog.

During our friendly conversation, I asked their 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 I 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 with pride!

"Wow...what a worthy goal!" I said. "But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that!" I told her. "What do you mean?" she replied. So I told her, "You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and trim my hedge, and I'll pay you $50. Then you can go over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out and give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house."

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me 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?" I said, "Welcome to the Republican Party." Her parents aren't speaking to me anymore.

(via email)
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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

haha awesome Diana

Nancy said...

I hope a lot of people read this post! Loved it!

Machtyn said...

This is a great story. It's been around for awhile.

BOSMAN said...

Great Post Diana.

I wonder if they sent her to her room?

MrX said...

There are variations of this story. I love them all. It's so simple and gets the point across to even the most ardent liberal.

Anonymous said...

This little fable is a great argument for voting Libertarian. It clearly articulates how one might address poverty in a free market. However, it is terrible argument for voting Republican.
Why? Because it is inconsistent. When the Republican Party’s candidates and their families needed money at crucial points in their lives, they took it from the government. Paul Ryan went to college on his father’s Social Security benefits. Romney’s father was on public assistance when he first came to this country from Mexico. In other words, they got public aid, but their policy argues against it.
The fable is also incomplete. If you believe it, vote Libertarian. The Republican Party talks like it like supports the free market, but at their national convention, two attendees threw peanuts at a Black camera woman from CNN, and made racist comments. When Pennsylvania delegate Mark Harris and his wife toured Epcot Center, they were offended to find a Mexican employee in the American section. Leaving aside the question of how they knew, aren’t both of these examples of the free market? Why then would Republicans do this? Because they aren’t just in favor of free markets. They are in favor of free markets, and opposed to other things, and other people.

So, again, good fable…but if you believe it, vote Libertarian.

Anonymous said...

But seriously. Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work for you? Maybe because you didn't offer him the work? Because actually, you feel ashamed that you have so much, and he has so little. So you'd just rather write smug, partisan blog posts that blame Democrats for the economy, than offer a homeless man some honest side work? Is it really better to insult your next door neighbors than it is to find common ground, foster good relations and work together? I don't think so... Please let this be a gentle reminder to soften up and put more love in your heart.

Gene Chesney said...

@ annonymous. Well said!

Anonymous said...

Of course the Libs are completely missing the point due to a lack of IQ.
Let me put it in simple terms. The homeless man represents all the lazy and/or illegal people in America who are taking advantage of our welfare system, while the little girl represents the naieve Liberal who thinks that they're doing the right thing by giving to these people, but in reality, are being taken advantage of.
A friend of mine once offered some work for a homeless man, but he refused and said "No offense but I make more in a day standing here than I would make by working with you", because he would rather take handouts for doing nothing than to make a honest living.
So if the person in the story had asked the homeless guy if he wanted to work, the homeless guy would likely refuse.

Anonymous said...

Wait...so does this story mean that Republicans are now in favor of infrastructure projects that will put people to work?

Unknown said...

hahahaah this is so false, the republican would find a qualified mexican to do it and pay him 30

Anonymous said...

Obviously you would not hire a homeless person to do the work and most people and companies wouldn't hire a homeless person either. If a man or woman is so poor that buying clothes and bathing regularly is a problem, would you hire that person? Trust me when I say that if it were that easy, extreme poverty wouldn't be an issue.

Sean Day said...

This story speaks volumes about the state of America!!!!!1!!!