Dear Friends,
It seems to me that one thing we have too much of in this world is misplaced compassion and not enough compassionate actions.
We constantly hear about the “plight” of this or that group. They have no chance… the cards are stacked against them. If only the world was more this or that. Which always turns out to be, a poorly thought out group of laws, thought up by some foolishly altruistic, egoistic and pollyannish committee. The imposition that is supposed to reverse the negative stereotypes and some actual stumbling hazards when enacted make them worse. Everything government seeks to help… it hurts.
The reality is that if government want to help people in various groups to succeed all it need do is get out of the way. No group of people are inferior to others. How hubristic to think otherwise. I would venture to say that ALL people who hold that there are some that are superior, better, have breeding. caste or whatever… classify themselves in the superior group. So to codify in law that a group certain is in some way in need of government assistance is to say in so many words that group is inferior. Thinking of incentives, what are the incentives to people who do and do not find themselves in this or that group?
Yet those that advocate the most governmental intervention are personally the least generous… statistically speaking. People judge others by themselves. We are all guilty of this little sin. When we feel a certain way about something we expect that others will feel the same way. So when people are not personally giving by nature they believe that others are as close as they are. Yet the plight of the needy is personal to them. Their greed makes their want and need for money paramount. So they identify with the group that they are told has none, (nothing is as scary to them). Seeing others as willfully ignorant of the plight of “the needy” they demand government action.,, To act themselves would be abhorrent.
Combine the two and the outcome is to keep some people poor while feeling good about it… The government is helping.
