Another NBC faulty premise

The barrier to reducing income inequality: the nouveau riche

Interesting story on the NBC web site. The premise is totally bogus, but it makes for a new narrative.

First, The Premise: The premise of the story is that because we are granted by the Creator the right of equality before the law, then that somehow translates into we have equal right to wealth and income. I am not sure how that computes, but it sure is a faulty logic.

First of all, people are not equal (except before the law, or should be, but aren’t these days as the federal government is busy carving out protected and favored groups at every opportunity). People are unique and different. It you deny that, then you deny freedom and the right to your own individuality.

People are not some cookie cutter pattern mass produced. Sorry, but human life just doesn’t come that way. Anybody who tells you that we are all the same and therefore deserve equality of outcome is handing you a pile of bovine scatology.

No, folks, we are all different. Our genealogy, our genetics, our talents, our abilities, our upbringing, our value systems, our life experiences, all work together to make each and every one of us unique. We are different, we are not the same.

Second, even if we were all the same, there are not enough resources to give us all the same standard of living. Sorry, folks, but that ain’t gonna happen no matter how you try. And trying is beyond being foolish because we are not the same and therefore we all want different things.

There is no way, in the United States, much less try doing it for the world, for everyone to get what they want. Our wants are as diverse as we are. We all have different talents, we all have different abilities and capabilities. Add to that our needs are different. Some of us are naturally healthy, others face health challenges all their lives.

So, to expect “income equality” is to build a strawman, a false issue with which to whip up resentment, jealousy and to foster hatred.

Secondly, while again the story points out that the 2 percent of the population (at anyone time) who make the most money in the country actually is made up of 1 in 5 or 20 percent of Americans, who find themselves in that top bracket for only short periods of their lives, before they probably drop back from the stratosphere.

Oh, but the article points out 1 out 2 Americans live in poverty part of their lives. It does a very poor job that some of the 20 percent also make up part of that 5o percent.

The article also takes pot shots at these achievers for looking at others and saying “Well, I could do it; so can you.” That is just not fair … oops, bad word there. I need to excise that word from my vocabulary, especially when I am talking about life.

Folks, LIFE IS NOT FAIR! Get that concept into your head and understand that. No, life is not fair and nothing we can do ever will make if fair. Remember, we are different people, each and every one of us. How can outcomes be equal when the inputs are not equal?

Fair? Fair is being equal before the law. Fair is government treating you no differently than any other member of society being governed. Fair is not the government giving this or that individual or group of individuals preferences or privileges based on some shared bond.

As a society, every society makes choices that rank abilities, etc., differently and the society rewards those it values. That is what societies do. If you don’t believe that, then find another world to live on because it isn’t the one you are living on here.

Is it fair? I would say so, but then my definition and yours probably are not the same.

I say embrace the fact that we are different. Revel in that fact. It is what makes the world such an incredible place. Like snowflakes, no two of us are exactly alike.

Don’t disparage people because we are different, welcome them. Treat them as you would have yourself be treated.

That is not the easy way, I know, but I suspect in the end, you will find it is the way that will reward you beyond your dreams.

Or maybe not, nothing in life is guaranteed (except death and taxes).