I read the following conservative parable via a Facebook post last night and felt the need to comment on it. Before my commentary, here's the post in its entirety:
"Recently, while I was working cuttin trees 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 hedges 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 man 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."
I'm sorry, but the rationale in this parable fails on multiple fronts. Its main intents are: 1) To paint all homeless people as lazy, 2) Everyone gets what they earn through hard work, and 3) While Democrats believe in welfare/spending on others, Republicans believe in personal responsibility.
First off, it's inaccurate to paint all homeless people as lazy. There are roughly 50,000 homeless vets in this country (close to 10% of the homeless population). In addition to that, approximately 33% of the homeless population suffer from mental illnesses which have been left untreated. These illnesses include: Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression, among others. So roughly 2 in 5 homeless people in this country are either veterans or suffer from mental illness (or a combination). It's also been estimated that up to 45% of the homeless have worked over the course of the past 30 days. So, again, it's not accurate to paint all homeless people as lazy as this parable intends to do.
Secondly, the author of this parable and his conservative character assume too many things. The conservative in this story attempts to insinuate to the little girl that the local homeless man she wants to help could earn the $50 in exchange for yard-work. The problem with this rationale is that the author and conservative character appear to assume the homeless man knows about the offer, that he'd/she'd actually make him the offer if he stopped by, and that the $50 would go on to make a serious contribution to the man's living situation. I'm sorry, but how would the homeless man know about this offer, which was verbally made to a single person a few seconds earlier? How are we to know the conservative character would actually follow through on the matter and offer a homeless man money in exchange for yard-work? The author also seems to forget most homeless people, when holding up signs, say, "Will work for food." They're not even thinking about homes; they're simply thinking about survival, and $50 isn't going to suffice for any kind of healthy living situation.
Lastly, the author attempts to paint the Republican Party as the party of personal responsibility (the makers) and the Democratic Party as the party of moochers/spenders/welfare (the takers). When looking at the parable from another angle, however, it makes the Democratic Party look like the party of nice people and the Republican Party the party of a*sholes.
Little girl: "I want to help all the homeless people!"
Conservative character: "Screw them! Screw all of them! If they really wanted food and homes, they could get off their lazy butts and earn the money themselves! That goes for the homeless men and women who put their lives on the line for this country too!"
The author of the parable also seems to mistake how he/she wants to view reality with actual reality. Allow me to provide him/her with a revised, more accurate version of the parable:
"Recently, while I was working, cutting trees 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 hedges, and while I should pay you $50 for all your hard work, I'll instead give you $10 of the $50, give the other $40 to a large corporation, and trust that the $40 you initially earned will trickle back down from the corporation to you. Then you can go over to the grocery store, where the lazy homeless mentally-deranged vet hangs out, and give him the $10 you were given of the $50 you earned to use toward food for a couple days, or to fund research for mental disabilities, or mental institutions, which have largely been shut down because of people like me.' She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why would the money trickle down to me? Why don't you support people with mental illnesses getting help? Why are you such an a*shole?' I said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party.' Her parents aren't speaking to me anymore."
Exactly! Now the parable makes sense!
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=how%20many%20homeless%20vets%20in%20the%20us
http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/about-us/our-blog/69-no-state/2596-how-many-people-with-serious-mental-illness-are-homeless
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070902357.html
"Recently, while I was working cuttin trees 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 hedges 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 man 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."
I'm sorry, but the rationale in this parable fails on multiple fronts. Its main intents are: 1) To paint all homeless people as lazy, 2) Everyone gets what they earn through hard work, and 3) While Democrats believe in welfare/spending on others, Republicans believe in personal responsibility.
First off, it's inaccurate to paint all homeless people as lazy. There are roughly 50,000 homeless vets in this country (close to 10% of the homeless population). In addition to that, approximately 33% of the homeless population suffer from mental illnesses which have been left untreated. These illnesses include: Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression, among others. So roughly 2 in 5 homeless people in this country are either veterans or suffer from mental illness (or a combination). It's also been estimated that up to 45% of the homeless have worked over the course of the past 30 days. So, again, it's not accurate to paint all homeless people as lazy as this parable intends to do.
Secondly, the author of this parable and his conservative character assume too many things. The conservative in this story attempts to insinuate to the little girl that the local homeless man she wants to help could earn the $50 in exchange for yard-work. The problem with this rationale is that the author and conservative character appear to assume the homeless man knows about the offer, that he'd/she'd actually make him the offer if he stopped by, and that the $50 would go on to make a serious contribution to the man's living situation. I'm sorry, but how would the homeless man know about this offer, which was verbally made to a single person a few seconds earlier? How are we to know the conservative character would actually follow through on the matter and offer a homeless man money in exchange for yard-work? The author also seems to forget most homeless people, when holding up signs, say, "Will work for food." They're not even thinking about homes; they're simply thinking about survival, and $50 isn't going to suffice for any kind of healthy living situation.
Lastly, the author attempts to paint the Republican Party as the party of personal responsibility (the makers) and the Democratic Party as the party of moochers/spenders/welfare (the takers). When looking at the parable from another angle, however, it makes the Democratic Party look like the party of nice people and the Republican Party the party of a*sholes.
Little girl: "I want to help all the homeless people!"
Conservative character: "Screw them! Screw all of them! If they really wanted food and homes, they could get off their lazy butts and earn the money themselves! That goes for the homeless men and women who put their lives on the line for this country too!"
The author of the parable also seems to mistake how he/she wants to view reality with actual reality. Allow me to provide him/her with a revised, more accurate version of the parable:
"Recently, while I was working, cutting trees 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 hedges, and while I should pay you $50 for all your hard work, I'll instead give you $10 of the $50, give the other $40 to a large corporation, and trust that the $40 you initially earned will trickle back down from the corporation to you. Then you can go over to the grocery store, where the lazy homeless mentally-deranged vet hangs out, and give him the $10 you were given of the $50 you earned to use toward food for a couple days, or to fund research for mental disabilities, or mental institutions, which have largely been shut down because of people like me.' She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why would the money trickle down to me? Why don't you support people with mental illnesses getting help? Why are you such an a*shole?' I said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party.' Her parents aren't speaking to me anymore."
Exactly! Now the parable makes sense!
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=how%20many%20homeless%20vets%20in%20the%20us
http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/about-us/our-blog/69-no-state/2596-how-many-people-with-serious-mental-illness-are-homeless
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070902357.html
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