Texas A&M Commencement Speech
You may not agree with everything this speaker says but it certainly does provide ample food for thought. Worth your time to read!
Many commencement speeches are boringly predictable. Neal Boortz a
Texan, a lawyer, a Texas AGGIE (Texas A&M), and now a nationally
syndicated talk show host from Atlanta. His speech is far different from
what either the students or the faculty expected Agree or not, his
views are thought provoking. It would have been particularly
entertaining to have witnessed the faculty's reaction! Don't stop
reading if and when you find things that disturb you, you'll find other
stuff that you'll find genuinely part of the reality of life in the
Untied States of America.
His Commencement Address:
"I am honored by the invitation to address you on this august occasion.
It's about time. Be warned, however, that I am not here to impress you;
you'll have enough smoke blown up your bloomers today. And you can bet
your tassels I'm not here to impress the faculty and administration.
You may not like much of what I have to say, and that's fine. You will
remember it though. Especially after about 10 years out there in the
real world. This, it goes without saying, does not apply to those of you
who will seek your careers and your fortunes as government employees.
This gowned gaggle behind me is your faculty. You've heard the old
saying that those who can - do Those who can't - teach. That sounds
deliciously insensitive. But there is often raw truth in insensitivity,
just as you often find feel-good falsehoods and lies in compassion. Say
good-bye to your faculty because now you are getting ready to go out
there and do. These folks behind me are going to stay right here and
teach.
By the way, just because you are leaving this place with a diploma
doesn't mean the learning is over When an FAA flight examiner handed me
my private pilot's license many years ago, he said, 'Here, this is your
ticket to learn.' The same can be said for your diploma. Believe me, the
learning has just begun.
Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In fact,
you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much. You
feel so much. You want to help so much. After all, you're a
compassionate and caring person, aren't you now? Well, isn't that just
so extraordinarily special.
Now, at this age, is as good a time as any to be a liberal; as good a
time as any to know absolutely everything. You have plenty of time,
starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in.
Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath of reality
down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty
fast...including your own assessment of just how much you really know.
So here are the first assignments for your initial class in reality: Pay
attention to the news, read newspapers, and listen to the words and
phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Then, compare
the words of the left to the words and phrases you hear from those evil,
heartless, greedy conservatives.
From the Left you will hear "I feel."
From the Right you will hear "I think." From the Liberals you will hear
references to groups -- The Blacks, the Poor, The Rich, The
Disadvantaged, The Less Fortunate.
From the Right you will hear references to individuals.
On the Left you hear talk of group rights; on the Right, individual
rights.
That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They are
pack animals whose identity is tied up in group dynamics. Conservatives
and Libertarians think -- and, setting aside the theocracy crowd, their
identity is centered on the individual.
Liberals feel that their favored groups have enforceable rights to the
property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives and
Libertarians, I among them I might add, think that individuals have the
right to protect their lives and their property from the plunder of the
masses.
In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely at
your diplomas you will see that they have your individual names on them.
Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity or sorority,
but your name. Your group identity is going away. Your recognition and
appreciation of your individual identity starts now.
If, by the time you reach the age of 30, you do not consider yourself
to be a libertarian or a conservative, rush right back here as quickly
as you can and apply for a faculty position. These people will welcome
you with open arms. They will welcome you, that is, so long as you
haven't developed an individual identity. Once again you will have to be
willing to sign on to the group mentality you embraced during the past
four years.
Something is going to happen soon that is going to really open your
eyes. You're going to actually get a full time job! You're also going to
get a lifelong work partner. This partner isn't going to help you do
your job. This partner is just going to sit back and wait for payday.
This partner doesn't want to share in your effort, but in your earnings.
Your new lifelong partner is actually an agent; an agent representing a
strange and diverse group of people; an agent for every teenager with an
illegitimate child; an agent for a research scientist who wanted to make
some cash answering the age-old question of why monkeys grind their
teeth. An agent for some poor demented hippie who considers herself to
be a meaningful and talented artist, but who just can't manage to sell
any of her artwork on the open market.
Your new partner is an agent for every person with limited, if any, job
skills, but who wanted a job at City Hall. An agent for tin-horn
dictators in fancy military uniforms grasping for American foreign aid.
An agent for multi-million- dollar companies who want someone else to
pay for their overseas advertising. An agent for everybody who wants to
use the unimaginable power of this agent's for their personal enrichment
and benefit.
That agent is our wonderful, caring, compassionate, oppressive
government. Believe me, you will be awed by the unimaginable power this
agent has. Power that you do not have A power that no individual has, or
will have. This agent has the legal power to use force, deadly force to
accomplish its goals.
You have no choice here. Your new friend is just going to walk up to
you, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fill out,
and move right on in. Say hello to your own personal one ton gorilla. It
will sleep anywhere it wants to.
Now, let me tell you, this agent is not cheap. As you become successful
it will seize about 40% of everything you earn. And no, I'm sorry, there
just isn't any way you can fire this agent of plunder, and you can't
decrease its share of your income. That power rests with him, not you.
So, here I am, saying negative things to you about government. Well, be
clear on this: It is not wrong to distrust government. It is not wrong
to fear government. In certain cases it is not even wrong to despise
government for government is inherently evil. Yes ... a necessary evil,
but dangerous nonetheless ... somewhat like a drug. Just as a drug that
in the proper dosage can save your life, an overdose of government can
be fatal.
Now let's address a few things that have been crammed into your minds at
this university. There are some ideas you need to expunge as soon as
possible. These ideas may work well in academic environment, but they
fail miserably out there in the real world.
First is that favorite buzz word of the media, government and academia:
Diversity! You have been taught that the real value of any group of
people - be it a social group, an employee group, a management group,
whatever - is based on diversity. This is a favored liberal ideal
because diversity is based not on an individual's abilities or
character, but on a person's identity and status as a member of a group.
Yes, it's that liberal group identity thing again.
Within the great diversity movement group identification - be it racial,
gender based, or some other minority status - means more than the
individual's integrity, character or other qualifications.
Brace yourself. You are about to move from this academic atmosphere
where diversity rules, to a workplace and a culture where individual
achievement and excellence actually count. No matter what your
professors have taught you over the last four years, you are about to
learn that diversity is absolutely no replacement for excellence,
ability, and individual hard work. From this day on every single time
you hear the word "diversity" you can rest assured that there is someone
close by who is determined to rob you of every vestige of individuality
you possess.
We also need to address this thing you seem to have about "rights" We
have witnessed an obscene explosion of so-called "rights" in the last
few decades, usually emanating from college campuses.
You know the mantra: You have the right to a job. The right to a place
to live The right to a living wage. The right to health care. The right
to an education You probably even have your own pet right - the right to
a Beemer for instance, or the right to have someone else provide for
that child you plan on downloading in a year or so. Forget it. Forget
those rights! I'll tell you what your rights are!
You have a right to live free, and to the results of 60% -75% of your
labor. I'll also tell you have no right to any portion of the life or
labor of another. You may, for instance, think that you have a right to
health care. After all, Hillary said so, didn't she? But you cannot
receive healthcare unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders
some of his time - his life - to you. He may be willing to do this for
compensation, but that's his choice. You have no "right" to his time or
property. You have no right to his or any other person's life or to any
portion thereof.
You may also think you have some "right" to a job; a job with a living
wage, whatever that is. Do you mean to tell me that you have a right to
force your services on another person, and then the right to demand that
this person compensate you with their money? Sorry, forget it. I am sure
you would scream if some urban outdoorsmen (that would be "homeless
person" for those of you who don't want to give these less fortunate
people a romantic and adventurous title) came to you and demanded his
job and your money.
The people who have been telling you about all the rights you have are
simply exercising one of theirs - the right to be imbeciles. Their being
imbeciles didn't cost anyone else either property or time. It's their
right, and they exercise it brilliantly.
By the way, did you catch my use of the phrase "less fortunate" a bit
ago when I was talking about the urban outdoorsmen? That phrase is a
favorite of the Left. Think about it, and you'll understand why.
To imply that one person is homeless, destitute, dirty, drunk, spaced
out on drugs, unemployable, and generally miserable because he is "less
fortunate" is to imply that a successful person - one with a job, a home
and a future - is in that position because he or she was "fortunate."
The dictionary says that fortunate means "having derived good from an
unexpected place." There is nothing unexpected about deriving good from
hard work. There is also nothing unexpected about deriving misery from
choosing drugs, alcohol, and the street.
If the Liberal Left can create the common perception that success and
failure are simple matters of "fortune" or "luck," then it is easy to
promote and justify their various income redistribution schemes. After
all, we are just evening out the odds a little bit. This "success equals
luck" idea the liberals like to push is seen everywhere. Former
Democratic presidential candidate Richard Gephardt refers to
high-achievers as "people who have won life's lottery." He wants you to
believe they are making the big bucks because they are lucky. It's not
luck, my friends. It's choice.
One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was in a book by Og
Mandino,entitled "The Greatest Secret in the World." The lesson? Very
simple:"Use wisely your power of choice."That bum sitting on a heating
grate, smelling like a wharf rat? He's there by choice. He is there
because of the sum total of the choices he has made in his life.
This truism is absolutely the hardest thing for some people to accept,
especially those who consider themselves to be victims of something or
other - victims of discrimination, bad luck, the system, capitalism,
whatever. After all, nobody really wants to accept the blame for his or
her position in life. Not when it is so much easier to point and say,
"Look! He did this to me!" than it is to look into a mirror and say,
"You S. O. B.! You did this to me!"
The key to accepting responsibility for your life is to accept the fact
that your choices, every one of them, are leading you inexorably to
either success or failure, however you define those terms.
Some of the choices are obvious: Whether or not to stay in school.
Whether or not to get pregnant. Whether or not to hit the bottle.
Whether or not to keep this job you hate until you get another
better-paying job. Whether or not to save some of your money, or saddle
yourself with huge payments for that new car.
Some of the choices are seemingly insignificant: Whom to go to the
movies with. Whose car to ride home in. Whether to watch the tube
tonight, or read a book on investing. But, and you can be sure of this,
each choice counts. Each choice is a building block - some large, some
small. But each one is a part of the structure of your life. If you make
the right choices, or if you make more right choices than wrong ones,
something absolutely terrible may happen to you. Something unthinkable.
You, my friend, could become one of the hated, the evil, the ugly, the
feared, the filthy, the successful, the rich
The rich basically serve two purposes in this country. First, they
provide the investments, the investment capital, and the brains for the
formation of new businesses. Businesses that hire people. Businesses
that send millions of paychecks home each week to the un-rich.
Second, the rich are a wonderful object of ridicule, distrust, and
hatred. Few things are more valuable to a politician than the envy most
Americans feel for the evil rich. Envy is a powerful emotion. Even more
powerful than the emotional minefield that surrounded Bill Clinton when
he reviewed his last batch of White House interns.
Politicians use envy to get votes and power.
And they keep that power by promising the envious that the envied will
be punished: "The rich will pay their fair share of taxes if I have
anything to do with it. The truth is that the top 10% of income earners
in this country pays almost 50% of all income taxes collected. I shudder
to think what these job producers would be paying if our tax system were
any more "fair."
You have heard, no doubt, that the rich get richer and the poor get
poorer Interestingly enough, our government's own numbers show that
many of the poor actually get richer, and that quite a few of the rich
actually get poorer. But for the rich who do actually get richer, and
the poor who remain poor ... there's an explanation -- a reason. The
rich, you see, keep doing the things that make them rich; while the poor
keep doing the things that make them poor.
Speaking of the poor, during your adult life you are going to hear an
endless string of politicians bemoaning the plight of the poor. So, you
need to know that under our government's definition of "poor" you can
have a $5 million net worth, a $300,000 home and a new $90,000 Mercedes,
all completely paid for. You can also have a maid, cook, and valet, and
$1 million in your checking account, and you can still be officially
defined by our government as "living in poverty." Now there's something
you haven't seen on the evening news.
How does the government pull this one off? Very simple, really. To
determine whether or not some poor soul is "living in poverty," the
government measures one thing -- just one thing. Income. It doesn't
matter one bit how much you have, how much you own, how many cars you
drive or how big they are, whether or not your pool is heated, whether
you winter in Aspen and spend the summers in the Bahamas, or how much is
in your savings account. It only matters how much income you claim in
that particular year. This means that if you take a one-year leave of
absence from your high-paying job and decide to live off the money in
your savings and checking accounts while you write the next great
American novel, the government says you are 'living in poverty."
This isn't exactly what you had in mind when you heard these gloomy
statistics, is it? Do you need more convincing? Try this. The
government's own statistics show that people who are said to be "living
in poverty" spend more than $1.50 for each dollar of income they claim.
Something is a bit fishy here. Just remember all this the next time
Charles Gibson tells you about some hideous new poverty statistics.
Why has the government concocted this phony poverty scam? Because the
government needs an excuse to grow and to expand its social welfare
programs, which translates into an expansion of its power. If the
government can convince you, in all your compassion, that the number of
"poor" is increasing, it will have all the excuse it needs to sway an
electorate suffering from the advanced stages of Obsessive-Compulsive
Compassion Disorder.
I'm about to be stoned by the faculty here. They've already changed
their minds about that honorary degree I was going t o get. That's OK,
though. I still have my PhD. in Insensitivity from the Neal Boortz
Institute for Insensitivity Training. I learned that, in short,
sensitivity sucks. It's a trap. Think about it - the truth knows no
sensitivity. Life can be insensitive. Wallow too much in sensitivity and
you'll be unable to deal with life, or the truth So, get over it.
Now, before the dean has me shackled and hauled off, I have a few random
thoughts.
* You need to register to vote, unless you are on welfare. If you are
living off the efforts of others, please do us the favor of sitting down
and shutting up until you are on your own again
* When you do vote, your votes for the House and the Senate are more
important than your vote for president. The House controls the purse
strings, so concentrate your awareness there.
* Liars cannot be trusted, even when the liar is the president of the
country. If someone can't deal honestly with you, send them packing.
* Don't bow to the temptation to use the government as an instrument of
plunder. If it is wrong for you to take money from someone else who
earned it -- to take their money by force for your own needs -- then it
is certainly just as wrong for you to demand that the government step
forward and do this dirty work for you.
* Don't look in other people's pockets. You have no business there. What
they earn is theirs. What you earn is yours Keep it that way. Nobody
owes you anything, except to respect your privacy and your rights, and
leave you the hell alone.
* Speaking of earning, the revered 40-hour workweek is for losers. Forty
hours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don't see
highly successful people clocking out of the office every afternoon at
five. The losers are the ones caught up in that afternoon rush hour. The
winners drive home in the dark.
* Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by
definition, needs no protection.
* Finally (and aren't you glad to hear that word), as Og Mandino wrote,
1. Proclaim your rarity Each of you is a rare and unique human being.
2. Use wisely your power of choice.
3. Go the extra mile ... drive home in the dark.
Oh, and put off buying a television set as long as you can.
Now, if you have any idea at all what's good for you, you will get the
hell out of here and never come back. Class dismissed"
You may not agree with everything this speaker says but it certainly does provide ample food for thought. Worth your time to read!
Many commencement speeches are boringly predictable. Neal Boortz a
Texan, a lawyer, a Texas AGGIE (Texas A&M), and now a nationally
syndicated talk show host from Atlanta. His speech is far different from
what either the students or the faculty expected Agree or not, his
views are thought provoking. It would have been particularly
entertaining to have witnessed the faculty's reaction! Don't stop
reading if and when you find things that disturb you, you'll find other
stuff that you'll find genuinely part of the reality of life in the
Untied States of America.
His Commencement Address:
"I am honored by the invitation to address you on this august occasion.
It's about time. Be warned, however, that I am not here to impress you;
you'll have enough smoke blown up your bloomers today. And you can bet
your tassels I'm not here to impress the faculty and administration.
You may not like much of what I have to say, and that's fine. You will
remember it though. Especially after about 10 years out there in the
real world. This, it goes without saying, does not apply to those of you
who will seek your careers and your fortunes as government employees.
This gowned gaggle behind me is your faculty. You've heard the old
saying that those who can - do Those who can't - teach. That sounds
deliciously insensitive. But there is often raw truth in insensitivity,
just as you often find feel-good falsehoods and lies in compassion. Say
good-bye to your faculty because now you are getting ready to go out
there and do. These folks behind me are going to stay right here and
teach.
By the way, just because you are leaving this place with a diploma
doesn't mean the learning is over When an FAA flight examiner handed me
my private pilot's license many years ago, he said, 'Here, this is your
ticket to learn.' The same can be said for your diploma. Believe me, the
learning has just begun.
Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In fact,
you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much. You
feel so much. You want to help so much. After all, you're a
compassionate and caring person, aren't you now? Well, isn't that just
so extraordinarily special.
Now, at this age, is as good a time as any to be a liberal; as good a
time as any to know absolutely everything. You have plenty of time,
starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in.
Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath of reality
down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty
fast...including your own assessment of just how much you really know.
So here are the first assignments for your initial class in reality: Pay
attention to the news, read newspapers, and listen to the words and
phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Then, compare
the words of the left to the words and phrases you hear from those evil,
heartless, greedy conservatives.
From the Left you will hear "I feel."
From the Right you will hear "I think." From the Liberals you will hear
references to groups -- The Blacks, the Poor, The Rich, The
Disadvantaged, The Less Fortunate.
From the Right you will hear references to individuals.
On the Left you hear talk of group rights; on the Right, individual
rights.
That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They are
pack animals whose identity is tied up in group dynamics. Conservatives
and Libertarians think -- and, setting aside the theocracy crowd, their
identity is centered on the individual.
Liberals feel that their favored groups have enforceable rights to the
property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives and
Libertarians, I among them I might add, think that individuals have the
right to protect their lives and their property from the plunder of the
masses.
In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely at
your diplomas you will see that they have your individual names on them.
Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity or sorority,
but your name. Your group identity is going away. Your recognition and
appreciation of your individual identity starts now.
If, by the time you reach the age of 30, you do not consider yourself
to be a libertarian or a conservative, rush right back here as quickly
as you can and apply for a faculty position. These people will welcome
you with open arms. They will welcome you, that is, so long as you
haven't developed an individual identity. Once again you will have to be
willing to sign on to the group mentality you embraced during the past
four years.
Something is going to happen soon that is going to really open your
eyes. You're going to actually get a full time job! You're also going to
get a lifelong work partner. This partner isn't going to help you do
your job. This partner is just going to sit back and wait for payday.
This partner doesn't want to share in your effort, but in your earnings.
Your new lifelong partner is actually an agent; an agent representing a
strange and diverse group of people; an agent for every teenager with an
illegitimate child; an agent for a research scientist who wanted to make
some cash answering the age-old question of why monkeys grind their
teeth. An agent for some poor demented hippie who considers herself to
be a meaningful and talented artist, but who just can't manage to sell
any of her artwork on the open market.
Your new partner is an agent for every person with limited, if any, job
skills, but who wanted a job at City Hall. An agent for tin-horn
dictators in fancy military uniforms grasping for American foreign aid.
An agent for multi-million- dollar companies who want someone else to
pay for their overseas advertising. An agent for everybody who wants to
use the unimaginable power of this agent's for their personal enrichment
and benefit.
That agent is our wonderful, caring, compassionate, oppressive
government. Believe me, you will be awed by the unimaginable power this
agent has. Power that you do not have A power that no individual has, or
will have. This agent has the legal power to use force, deadly force to
accomplish its goals.
You have no choice here. Your new friend is just going to walk up to
you, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fill out,
and move right on in. Say hello to your own personal one ton gorilla. It
will sleep anywhere it wants to.
Now, let me tell you, this agent is not cheap. As you become successful
it will seize about 40% of everything you earn. And no, I'm sorry, there
just isn't any way you can fire this agent of plunder, and you can't
decrease its share of your income. That power rests with him, not you.
So, here I am, saying negative things to you about government. Well, be
clear on this: It is not wrong to distrust government. It is not wrong
to fear government. In certain cases it is not even wrong to despise
government for government is inherently evil. Yes ... a necessary evil,
but dangerous nonetheless ... somewhat like a drug. Just as a drug that
in the proper dosage can save your life, an overdose of government can
be fatal.
Now let's address a few things that have been crammed into your minds at
this university. There are some ideas you need to expunge as soon as
possible. These ideas may work well in academic environment, but they
fail miserably out there in the real world.
First is that favorite buzz word of the media, government and academia:
Diversity! You have been taught that the real value of any group of
people - be it a social group, an employee group, a management group,
whatever - is based on diversity. This is a favored liberal ideal
because diversity is based not on an individual's abilities or
character, but on a person's identity and status as a member of a group.
Yes, it's that liberal group identity thing again.
Within the great diversity movement group identification - be it racial,
gender based, or some other minority status - means more than the
individual's integrity, character or other qualifications.
Brace yourself. You are about to move from this academic atmosphere
where diversity rules, to a workplace and a culture where individual
achievement and excellence actually count. No matter what your
professors have taught you over the last four years, you are about to
learn that diversity is absolutely no replacement for excellence,
ability, and individual hard work. From this day on every single time
you hear the word "diversity" you can rest assured that there is someone
close by who is determined to rob you of every vestige of individuality
you possess.
We also need to address this thing you seem to have about "rights" We
have witnessed an obscene explosion of so-called "rights" in the last
few decades, usually emanating from college campuses.
You know the mantra: You have the right to a job. The right to a place
to live The right to a living wage. The right to health care. The right
to an education You probably even have your own pet right - the right to
a Beemer for instance, or the right to have someone else provide for
that child you plan on downloading in a year or so. Forget it. Forget
those rights! I'll tell you what your rights are!
You have a right to live free, and to the results of 60% -75% of your
labor. I'll also tell you have no right to any portion of the life or
labor of another. You may, for instance, think that you have a right to
health care. After all, Hillary said so, didn't she? But you cannot
receive healthcare unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders
some of his time - his life - to you. He may be willing to do this for
compensation, but that's his choice. You have no "right" to his time or
property. You have no right to his or any other person's life or to any
portion thereof.
You may also think you have some "right" to a job; a job with a living
wage, whatever that is. Do you mean to tell me that you have a right to
force your services on another person, and then the right to demand that
this person compensate you with their money? Sorry, forget it. I am sure
you would scream if some urban outdoorsmen (that would be "homeless
person" for those of you who don't want to give these less fortunate
people a romantic and adventurous title) came to you and demanded his
job and your money.
The people who have been telling you about all the rights you have are
simply exercising one of theirs - the right to be imbeciles. Their being
imbeciles didn't cost anyone else either property or time. It's their
right, and they exercise it brilliantly.
By the way, did you catch my use of the phrase "less fortunate" a bit
ago when I was talking about the urban outdoorsmen? That phrase is a
favorite of the Left. Think about it, and you'll understand why.
To imply that one person is homeless, destitute, dirty, drunk, spaced
out on drugs, unemployable, and generally miserable because he is "less
fortunate" is to imply that a successful person - one with a job, a home
and a future - is in that position because he or she was "fortunate."
The dictionary says that fortunate means "having derived good from an
unexpected place." There is nothing unexpected about deriving good from
hard work. There is also nothing unexpected about deriving misery from
choosing drugs, alcohol, and the street.
If the Liberal Left can create the common perception that success and
failure are simple matters of "fortune" or "luck," then it is easy to
promote and justify their various income redistribution schemes. After
all, we are just evening out the odds a little bit. This "success equals
luck" idea the liberals like to push is seen everywhere. Former
Democratic presidential candidate Richard Gephardt refers to
high-achievers as "people who have won life's lottery." He wants you to
believe they are making the big bucks because they are lucky. It's not
luck, my friends. It's choice.
One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was in a book by Og
Mandino,entitled "The Greatest Secret in the World." The lesson? Very
simple:"Use wisely your power of choice."That bum sitting on a heating
grate, smelling like a wharf rat? He's there by choice. He is there
because of the sum total of the choices he has made in his life.
This truism is absolutely the hardest thing for some people to accept,
especially those who consider themselves to be victims of something or
other - victims of discrimination, bad luck, the system, capitalism,
whatever. After all, nobody really wants to accept the blame for his or
her position in life. Not when it is so much easier to point and say,
"Look! He did this to me!" than it is to look into a mirror and say,
"You S. O. B.! You did this to me!"
The key to accepting responsibility for your life is to accept the fact
that your choices, every one of them, are leading you inexorably to
either success or failure, however you define those terms.
Some of the choices are obvious: Whether or not to stay in school.
Whether or not to get pregnant. Whether or not to hit the bottle.
Whether or not to keep this job you hate until you get another
better-paying job. Whether or not to save some of your money, or saddle
yourself with huge payments for that new car.
Some of the choices are seemingly insignificant: Whom to go to the
movies with. Whose car to ride home in. Whether to watch the tube
tonight, or read a book on investing. But, and you can be sure of this,
each choice counts. Each choice is a building block - some large, some
small. But each one is a part of the structure of your life. If you make
the right choices, or if you make more right choices than wrong ones,
something absolutely terrible may happen to you. Something unthinkable.
You, my friend, could become one of the hated, the evil, the ugly, the
feared, the filthy, the successful, the rich
The rich basically serve two purposes in this country. First, they
provide the investments, the investment capital, and the brains for the
formation of new businesses. Businesses that hire people. Businesses
that send millions of paychecks home each week to the un-rich.
Second, the rich are a wonderful object of ridicule, distrust, and
hatred. Few things are more valuable to a politician than the envy most
Americans feel for the evil rich. Envy is a powerful emotion. Even more
powerful than the emotional minefield that surrounded Bill Clinton when
he reviewed his last batch of White House interns.
Politicians use envy to get votes and power.
And they keep that power by promising the envious that the envied will
be punished: "The rich will pay their fair share of taxes if I have
anything to do with it. The truth is that the top 10% of income earners
in this country pays almost 50% of all income taxes collected. I shudder
to think what these job producers would be paying if our tax system were
any more "fair."
You have heard, no doubt, that the rich get richer and the poor get
poorer Interestingly enough, our government's own numbers show that
many of the poor actually get richer, and that quite a few of the rich
actually get poorer. But for the rich who do actually get richer, and
the poor who remain poor ... there's an explanation -- a reason. The
rich, you see, keep doing the things that make them rich; while the poor
keep doing the things that make them poor.
Speaking of the poor, during your adult life you are going to hear an
endless string of politicians bemoaning the plight of the poor. So, you
need to know that under our government's definition of "poor" you can
have a $5 million net worth, a $300,000 home and a new $90,000 Mercedes,
all completely paid for. You can also have a maid, cook, and valet, and
$1 million in your checking account, and you can still be officially
defined by our government as "living in poverty." Now there's something
you haven't seen on the evening news.
How does the government pull this one off? Very simple, really. To
determine whether or not some poor soul is "living in poverty," the
government measures one thing -- just one thing. Income. It doesn't
matter one bit how much you have, how much you own, how many cars you
drive or how big they are, whether or not your pool is heated, whether
you winter in Aspen and spend the summers in the Bahamas, or how much is
in your savings account. It only matters how much income you claim in
that particular year. This means that if you take a one-year leave of
absence from your high-paying job and decide to live off the money in
your savings and checking accounts while you write the next great
American novel, the government says you are 'living in poverty."
This isn't exactly what you had in mind when you heard these gloomy
statistics, is it? Do you need more convincing? Try this. The
government's own statistics show that people who are said to be "living
in poverty" spend more than $1.50 for each dollar of income they claim.
Something is a bit fishy here. Just remember all this the next time
Charles Gibson tells you about some hideous new poverty statistics.
Why has the government concocted this phony poverty scam? Because the
government needs an excuse to grow and to expand its social welfare
programs, which translates into an expansion of its power. If the
government can convince you, in all your compassion, that the number of
"poor" is increasing, it will have all the excuse it needs to sway an
electorate suffering from the advanced stages of Obsessive-Compulsive
Compassion Disorder.
I'm about to be stoned by the faculty here. They've already changed
their minds about that honorary degree I was going t o get. That's OK,
though. I still have my PhD. in Insensitivity from the Neal Boortz
Institute for Insensitivity Training. I learned that, in short,
sensitivity sucks. It's a trap. Think about it - the truth knows no
sensitivity. Life can be insensitive. Wallow too much in sensitivity and
you'll be unable to deal with life, or the truth So, get over it.
Now, before the dean has me shackled and hauled off, I have a few random
thoughts.
* You need to register to vote, unless you are on welfare. If you are
living off the efforts of others, please do us the favor of sitting down
and shutting up until you are on your own again
* When you do vote, your votes for the House and the Senate are more
important than your vote for president. The House controls the purse
strings, so concentrate your awareness there.
* Liars cannot be trusted, even when the liar is the president of the
country. If someone can't deal honestly with you, send them packing.
* Don't bow to the temptation to use the government as an instrument of
plunder. If it is wrong for you to take money from someone else who
earned it -- to take their money by force for your own needs -- then it
is certainly just as wrong for you to demand that the government step
forward and do this dirty work for you.
* Don't look in other people's pockets. You have no business there. What
they earn is theirs. What you earn is yours Keep it that way. Nobody
owes you anything, except to respect your privacy and your rights, and
leave you the hell alone.
* Speaking of earning, the revered 40-hour workweek is for losers. Forty
hours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don't see
highly successful people clocking out of the office every afternoon at
five. The losers are the ones caught up in that afternoon rush hour. The
winners drive home in the dark.
* Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by
definition, needs no protection.
* Finally (and aren't you glad to hear that word), as Og Mandino wrote,
1. Proclaim your rarity Each of you is a rare and unique human being.
2. Use wisely your power of choice.
3. Go the extra mile ... drive home in the dark.
Oh, and put off buying a television set as long as you can.
Now, if you have any idea at all what's good for you, you will get the
hell out of here and never come back. Class dismissed"
