Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Poor us

Liberals, bless their compassionate hearts, want to eliminate poverty.
Well, it is possible to increase or reduce the level of poverty, because the poverty level is defined by the government. Change the definition and you change the amount of poverty.
But it can't be eliminated. Poverty describes a relative condition. Those who have less than most others are in poverty.
Thus, if most of us made $100 million a year, those who made a mere million would be in poverty.
Heritage Foundation has written often on this subject and documented that people said to be in poverty tend to have nice homes, autos, TVs, computers and other amenities. Hardly comparable to the wretched souls lining the streets of Calcutta holding begging bowls and asking for alms.
To eliminate poverty would require everyone to earn the same income. While that might resonate in some college dorm discussion, even Karl Marx knew it would not happen, and it never did in Communist Russia. There were always the haves -- high-ranking Party members -- and the have-nots: Everyone else.
What conservatives want is for everyone to have an education, a job and equal opportunity to increase his standard to living to whatever level he desires.
That is possible, unlike the dreams of the liberal idealists and Utopians.

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