If sending a child to his or her room without dinner after they've arrived home bearing a report card full of A's sounds like bad parenting, why does the act of punishing successful entrepreneurs sound so delectable?
Children who get straight A's work very hard. So do successful entrepreneurs.
Children who get straight A's use brainpower to achieve their goals. So do successful entrepreneurs.
To most conservatives, conservatism just feels right and liberalism feels wrong. One of the reasons we get a bad vibe when a Democrat speaks about raising taxes on the wealthy is because we feel it punishes success. And punishing success is wrong.
As the above argument can get a little stale, let me try to illustrate the problem that might occur if society were to begin punishing other successes.
Let's go back to the child with perfect marks in school. He or she is sent to their room without dinner and therefore stops reading books. In order to avoid further sanction they also fail to complete another homework assignment for the rest of their life. As a result of every child with determination being punished, those who even manage to graduate are ignorant. To fix the problem of children graduating without knowledge, we pour more money into the schools. Of course, because we no longer encourage children to strive for success, none of their predecessors have the know-how to create wealth and the government has no one to tax.
You see what happens when you punish noble behavior? And it's not as if only Republicans view hard work as virtuous.
"With the proper motivation anyone can achieve the American dream," President Obama says. "And when you do I will be standing proudly by your side (with my hand out). And once I get your money, I'll distribute it to those who just felt like 'chillin'' as you worked your butt off."
If we continue down the road of punishing good behavior, future conversations will go something like:
"Wow, I can't believe you pay so much for car insurance!"
"Everyone tried to tell me, 'Speed up, you're not going to hurt anyone!' but I wouldn't listen."
Call us conservatives crazy, but for some strange reason we don't believe a country can function where bad is good and good is bad.
But since Democrats control everything I might as well get used to it, therefore I am just kicking myself for the well articulated points I've made in this piece. I hereby curse my brilliant brain and adroit typing skills!
Curse the: brilliant brain and adroit typing skills!
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