You don’t deserve prosperity; you work for it
Counterpoint:
By Mark Underwood
Regarding the column, “The unfortunate also deserve a break” (April 29), by Danny Glen in response to Charles Davenport: I submit that anyone born in this country has already gotten a huge break. Barring harsh physical, mental or situational circumstances, this is where you can make your life what you want it to be.
I’m a prime example of this. I come from a lower-middle-class family with income not too far above the poverty line. I was a high school underachiever who went on to work in a furniture plant ($3.55 an hour in 1985), then textiles. My father had always preached college, but I wasn’t willing to put forth the effort until I worked low-paying jobs for a while. I decided I wanted to make more money and have an easier job. I enrolled in a community college and got grants and loans until I transferred to a four-year school and graduated with an IT degree. I studied hard, worked part-time jobs and graduated with a 3.5 GPA. I am now blessed to make $95,000 a year.
It’s a comfortable living, but if I want to make more money, I can. The opportunities are out there. You have to hustle for them, and you have to have drive, brains and some luck. And if you don’t make it, you have no one to blame but yourself. If you’re in a job that doesn’t pay what you want, then do something about it besides complain about those who do have more.
If you want to be in a place where everyone makes the same amount, move to another country.
Danny, just because Cindy McCain inherited a business doesn’t give the rest of us a right to take it from her, or force her to sell one of her houses. Someone somewhere in her family worked hard to build that business. They had the right to give it to whomever they wanted. She should pay the same percentage in taxes as everyone else. I’m not jealous of her, nor do I begrudge her for it, and anyone who does begrudge her has problems.
Somehow I don’t think our founding fathers would consider it patriotic for people to pay more taxes to a government that overspends irresponsibly. You see, they had this dislike for taxes and a big, inefficient government. And they not only loved this country, they created it.
The writer lives in Greensboro.
Comments (9)
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Amen!
I would only add that Americans are among the most generous of people, building schools and hospitals and innumerable private charities. Our prosperity enables us to send our children as doctors and teachers and dentists and ministers to less fortunate countries.
I'm thankful for rich people who provided scholarships for me, provided job opportunities for me, and otherwise helped me. I'm likewise thankful that I am often in a position to help someone else now--without being forced by a government entity. I just do it because it feels good and right to pay it forward.
Posted on May 16, 2009 7:31 AM
Excellent letter Mr. Underwood. The class envy underachievers don't see it your way, it's easier to pilfer your hard earned money in perpetuity rather than get an education and make their own money. Class envy is alive and well.
Posted on May 16, 2009 8:13 AM
Mark,
Well written and heartfelt letter. There is much in your letter that I find it easy to agree with. My own story is similar to your own in some ways.
There are lots of opportunities in this country and a person with brains and hustle can do quite well with, as you put it, "some luck." You are right so far. But then you say, "And, if you don't make it, you have no one to blame but yourself."
If "some luck" is involved, then you can still do your best and not succeed. If "some luck" is involved, there will inevitably be "the unfortunate." If "some luck" is involved, you can be a success now and a failure later.
A wise man would do well to have a little compassion for "the unfortunate," since in a world where "some luck" is involved, you may one day be one of "the unfortunate."
Posted on May 16, 2009 8:47 AM
On the face of it, Mr. Underwood's arguments make sense.
But there is more to many of these stories than most people realize.
Danny Glen's letter vented the frustration many of us have at the super rich who got that way gaming the system. They broke our economy and now the government is bailing them out. The average joe gets no bailout.
Just because someone gets mega bucks doesn't mean they got it through honest hard work, either. Bush got rich through outright theft and fraud: insider trading, and (state) government sanctioned land theft to build the stadium of the Texas Rangers (of which he was a part owner), and tax shenanigans to make the locals shoulder the cost of the stadium in its entirety.
Here's some examples of how he got rich: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/aug2002/bush-a01.shtml.
I'm not saying it's right to take anyone's property away from them (Cindy McCain).
I'm saying there's usually more to the story.
Underwood is both right and wrong for that reason.
Oh, and one of the founding fathers he cites, Thomas Jefferson, spent his entire life massively in debt and died broke because he couldn't manage his finances. Yet he lived large his entire life, mostly off the labor of the slaves he owned.
Posted on May 16, 2009 9:30 AM
" Class envy is alive and well."
Alive,it's the center of the Democratic party.
Posted on May 16, 2009 9:36 AM
The web site Panacea listed and tries to make an argument with is: World Socialist Web Site. Which is a web site devoted to nothing but promoting Socialism and bashing Bush. And basically the the bashing of Bush is with LIES.
Panacea, I knew you were liberal, I just didn't know how much of a left wing nut case you really were.
Posted on May 16, 2009 10:37 AM
I agree the LTE makes a good case .. here's what I gleamed:
"My father had always preached college ..."
Turns out Daddy was Right.
"I ... got grants ... "
hmmm .. so the boy benefitted from the g-man hand up system. So much for the " Class envy " argument.
His argument cites Cindy McCain .. who has to be a shining example of The Right Stuff. Too bad he didn't examine Leona Helmsley.
http://www.taxjustice-usa.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=145
Posted on May 16, 2009 5:14 PM
"hmmm .. so the boy benefitted from the g-man hand up system. So much for the 'class envy ' argument."
....and the basis for your assumption that "the boy (sic) benefitted from the g-man hand up system" is......?
Good old Schlockofelter.....making it up as he/she/it goes along.....as usual.
Posted on May 17, 2009 9:44 AM
I noticed that the writer got ahead with government assistance in the form of grants and FAFSA-backed education loans.
"I've got mine, why should I care about everyone else?"
I understood the goal of America is a classless society, not a patrician one.
and what is this pathetic obsession of some posters to mangle other people's names as some lame attempt at insult? stop with the passive aggression: let out your latent hostility and admit you have no argument so must resort to third-grade insults.
Yes, it's hard to quote Jefferson on liberty and not think "slave-owning hypocrite".
There are many leaders capable of empty, but beautiful, words., mostly designed to get you to look the other way.
(hanging breaker if there ever was one)
Posted on May 18, 2009 1:32 PM