What we should be terribly afraid of having to say, though, is that we never even tried something we wanted, for that is a 100% guarantee of getting absolutely nowhere.

Here’s the rub, though: in order for our citizens to maintain their motivation to try, they need for the government to get the heck out of their way! Why would anyone try to succeed, take risks, or get rich if the government is waiting at the other end to confiscate more and more of the fruits of one’s labors? And why would anyone try to succeed if the government is bailing out a competitor that behaved so irresponsibly that it would otherwise go out of business? I, too, have nothing against helping people who are truly in need, but government should not hold back and/or punish the go-getters of society. Government is too intrusive in our lives!!

She finally has a home: Harvard

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-harvard20-2009jun20,0,1882109.story

I heard a comedian say that what’s wrong with parents today is that they are so darned needy. It’s all about the parent’s needs, their need to have to smartest kid, the richest kid, the prettiest kid. In the olden days, we threw kids a peanut butter sandwich and told them to come home before the sun went down.

The ones responsible for this are the vicious bastards who never gave a damn for anyone but themselves.

I’ve found that these folks are often the culprits.

On the parent front, FOX news reported that Obama went golfing for several hours today. Hmmmmm. The MSM makes him out to be such a great father, one would think he’d want to spend his days off with those precious girls. Oh, well. Sasha and Malia are the only Obama’s I like! I hope they don’t turn out like their parents!

None of the conditions that created and sustained this economic disaster were innocent mistakes. They were deliberate choices made by generations of men (and some women) who absolutely knew the disaster they were sowing - and who didn’t give a rat’s ass because they were gonna get rich. The destruction of rules and safeguards and the deliberate disempowering of regulatory function was designed and deployed by men who absolutely knew the debacle they were creating - and who didn’t give a rat’s ass because it wan gonna make them and their friends wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice.

And the ’solution’ now being jammed down our throats is deliberately designed to defend and extend the obscene profits made by the perpetrators of these crimes and will put us all in servitude to those same criminals for generations to come - and they don’t give a rat’s ass about it because they know their money got their perfect servant elected to make sure they get away with it.

It’s not the sense of entitlement in the vast majority of folks now going broke that I fear - it’s the generation of monsters who created this mess I’m afraid of, monsters who were created by the neocon credo of ‘free markets’, by Ayn Randian me-first-and-fuck-you ideology, by Reaganite government=bad, greed=good idiocy.

You don’t need to point the finger at the poor schmucks who feel ‘entitled’ - they’re finding out just how disenfranchised they are. The ones responsible for this are the vicious bastards who never gave a damn for anyone but themselves.

Excellent, evocative post!

I should have been more explicit in stating that I view Obama as utilizing the same tendencies as a “helicopter parent” in his role as President. Perhaps a more appropriate title would be Barack Obama: “Helicopter President”

But it’s like watching your child learning to walk. You do the best you can to encourage them and to catch them if they start to fall. But even the most vigilant parent can’t catch them every time.

Very eloquent, Candymarl. Ultimately, they have to leave the nest and either fly or fall on their own. If you always protect them from falling, they are not ever going to learn to fly. And sometimes, in spite of everything, they fall, and the parent must struggle with the coulda-shoulda-woulda’s, and carry the pain.

I am reminded of George McGovern’s struggle with his daughter Teresa:

The McGoverns had five children . . . In 1994, his daughter Terry died of hypothermia while intoxicated. McGovern revealed his daughter had battled her alcohol addiction for years. He founded a non-profit organization in her name to help others suffering from alcoholism and authored a book, Terry: My Daughter’s Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism.

I was ready to put on my tinfoil hat! I guess I misread it as “helicopter president” in some part of my mind!

But seriously, I agree with you. The entitlement programs are like giving your kid an allowance for the rest of his life. They should be there as a safety net for those who really need assistance, but it’s all too easy to get addicted to living off the dole.

My own wife was laid off in January and is drawing unemployment income until the end of the year. If the job market isn’t rebounding by then, they’ll have to extend benefits again, or many folks will be forced to give up their homes or take menial jobs at minimum wage just to survive. That kind of impoverishment may be good for the souls of our spoiled children, but for us aging Boomers, it’s devastating. We can’t take jobs doing manual labor, and they wouldn’t hire us if we applied.

Why? He turns 21 this year and sooner or later he has to learn to fail or succeed on his own.

I’ve had my share successes and failures with no safety net. Those experiences taught me some valuable lessons. It hurts to watch your child going through the same things.

But it’s like watching your child learning to walk. You do the best you can to encourage them and to catch them if they start to fall. But even the most vigilant parent can’t catch them every time.