Freedom Flyer 16

By Rob Smeenk
Guest writer

Since John Clarke and his tiny band of Union of Unemployed Workers receive such a disproportionate amount of free publicity from their staged protests, perhaps a countervailing point of view might enjoy some newspaper space.

Their latest protest was against the beer and hotdog in the park photo in the London Free Press, claiming the picture was not representative of their ilk. Actually they can't afford beer say Clarke.

Oh, really.

I realize it's unfair to paint everyone with the same brush, and of course many are not guilty, but let's ask the taxi drivers how many welfare, unemployment, and mothers' allowance recipients take cabs to the Brewers' Retail stores and liquor stores when their cheques come in at the end of the month. They will tell you, as they have me, it's almost an avalanche.

In their march to Toronto this spring to "get poverty eradicated," the Union of Unemployed Workers tried to perpetuate the myth that "poverty is a crime perpetrated upon the innocent and the weak."

A crime perpetrated by whom? If there's a crime why aren't charges being laid by police?

Actually, their idea of poverty is laughable. They should visit Mexico, India or any other Third World country to see real poverty. Some of these countries have per capita incomes of less than $250 a year.

These people think money grows on government trees. They don't realize someone else has to go out to produce the wealth they feel they're entitled to.

In this country we have political, economic and social freedom, the benefits of free education as we're growing up, free medical care, and living expenses if you need them. Basically, all the fundamental ingredients required to foster prosperity.

The way I see it is, if you're poor in this country, it's God's way of telling you you're doing something wrong, so you should change the way you're doing things instead of always blaming the rich or society for your problems.

THROWING MONEY:

Throwing money at poverty has never and will never solve the problem. More than $80 billion was spent in trying to create the late U.S. president Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. Yet, 10 years later, there was a larger percentage of poor in America. Most programs were actually found to be counter-productive - another example of the road to hell being paved with good intentions.

You can't legislate people out of Poverty. If you could. why wouldn't every Third World government simply pass laws proclaiming that every one of their citizens have a new home and car and three meals a duy? Presto, it would be so.

It isn't done because you can't legislate wealth or poverty in a free country any more than you can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. But don't tell this to the New Democratic Party, Liberals, poverty marchers, or share-the- wealth believers.

It isn't enough for them that governments already take more than 54 per cent of the average person's income in various taxes each year. They want to "overhaul" a $2-billion welfare program which, by their own admission, is a "system that isn't working." They want to throw an additional $600 million at it.

TAXATION WOES:

If this were not so tragic it would be laughable, but higher taxes to pay for all these socialistic schemes are no laughing matter.

Modern taxation really began in 1917 as a temporary war measure and an income tax of two percent was introduced. If the present rate of escalating taxation continues, it will take only 40 more years until we pay 100 per cent of our incomes to the government. Then, I suppose, we'll all get a guaranteed minimum income and we'll finally have the egalitarian nirvana about which all the freeloaders and socialists dream.

The old philosophy which created the incentives to make this country great was "to each according to his ability." And it worked. Governments were small, taxes low, deficits by today's standards were practically non-existent, and people prospered and helped each other out.

The new altruistic philosophy being promoted by the socialists of today is "to each according to his needs" and it doesn't work.

People run to the government for help, as a result the bureaucracy is huge and expensive. Taxes are high and deficits are astronomical. While this philosophy is dragging us into the muck of mediocrity, let us recall that people accomodate themselves to poverty in this country by their own free will. People always choose the economic level they'll accept. You are daily and constantly in the process of schooling yourself to accept the level of prosperity you have, or you are exerting extra effort to get more.

To Clarke and his band I say that millions of transplanted immigrants who came to this country with nothing, some not even able to speak the language, are now prosperous. The boat people and other Asians who practically swam the ocean to get here are making it, so what's your excuse.

NO EXCUSES:

There's no excuse for not achieving success in Canada today. If you don't have the burning desire to better your life (and I don't mean getting more government money for less effort) you're cheating yourself and your loved ones with phony excuses.

You're choosing a level of life that's poor compared to what you could have with the extra exertion of which you're capable. It's all on your shoulders and there's no way you can shift a bit of the responsibility.

Unless you do this and start operating at your full potential you'll never reach the quality of life within your reach, and which you desire.