The First Principle of Conservatism is PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. Sounds simple, right? Take responsibility for yourself and your family. Provide for your OWN needs. Do the hard work FOR YOURSELF rather than counting on someone else to do it for you. While that might seem like a reasonable definition, it is clearly incomplete.
The telltale mantra of the Robin Hood Franchise is, “Rob from the Rich, and Give to the Poor.” Now, the “Give to the Poor” side of the phrase infers “Charity,” most commonly defined as a gift from one to another in a time of need, and certainly there’s NOTHING wrong with Charity, right? Well, if Robin were giving his OWN money in a charitable manner, I’d shout, “HUZZAH!” Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, because the FIRST part of the phrase is “Rob from the Rich.” This, my friends, is Socialism 101!
One of the first thing that my father did when we moved to Florida was to change the old fuse panel in our house to electrical breakers. At the time, breakers weren’t exactly commonplace in the houses built in the 1950’s, but they were certainly safer than the old screw-in fuses that had been in place. To keep the fuse from popping and having to be replaced all the time, people would put pennies behind the fuse to maintain the circuit, thereby bypassing the fuse and creating a significant fire hazard. I’ll never forget when he was pulling our panel out of the wall, and removed a batch of pennies that had literally been fused together. As I recall, there were six of them, but I could be wrong. After all, I was maybe 8 years old at the time. But that cluster of pennies, fused together as they were, taught me a lesson: Some people will do things to avoid doing the hard work of doing the RIGHT thing, even if it puts them at risk.
Can someone please explain to me why it is so bad to be required to be able to identify yourself properly with documentation? I have a Driver’s License, and if I’m pulled over by a police officer, which I have been, I have to be able to show my license, my vehicle registration and my proof of insurance. When the officer calls in my ID, he or she will be verifying whether or not I have any warrants out for my arrest, if my license is valid, and if my insurance is up to date. If I don’t have a license, or my registration, or my insurance, guess what: I’m going to jail! That’s right. Until I can prove those things, I get to go to jail, and THAT’S in Florida, not Arizona!
