Pat Buchanan has a few thoughts on the subject.
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CORNTOWN
Once upon a time, there was a nice little community called Costa Me...ah... Corntown.
Corn grew like crazy all over the place in Corntown, and as a result of the revenues from taxes on the corn, the Corntown municipal government had more corn than it knew what to do with.
Now, as you probably know, governments expand to use all the corn they can take in. They can't just let piles of corn sit around.
So, to use up all the corn coming in, Corntown gave big raises and lots of benefits to City employees, resurfaced roads more than necessary and provided all sorts of freebies to residents which included free baby sitting services, free sports events, free concerts, and free this and free that.
There was so much corn coming in that the municipal government of Corntown had to scramble to find new things to spend it on. And, that meant thinking up even more freebies for residents; which the municipal government called "services."
As you might expect,word spread about the freebies in Corntown.
Soon, people who weren't even citizens flocked to Corntown for the freebies. And, many of these people would look for day jobs in which they were paid in corn under the table. Because there was no paper trail showing the actual amount of corn they were taking in each month, they qualified for many more freebies.
Then, one day, the corn started dying, and the City Council of Corntown had to start cutting out some of the freebies.
The problem was, by this time, all the people of Corntown, including those who weren't even in the country legally, believed that they had some God given right to all the freebies they had been receiving just because they lived in Corntown.
And, all the freeloaders started whining and crying and calling the City Council members names because the Council members had to cut out some non-necessary freebies in order to not spend more corn than Corntown had.
"You rotten, lousy kid-hating Council members, how dare you not give us free concerts? We have a right to them," they yelled. "And, how dare you stop giving us free baby sitting services? You're cutting the heart out of Corntown! If you don't have enough corn to give us all these free services, you better go find a way to raise more corn. You owe us! How are we supposed to take care of our children, if you won't do it for us? How are we supposed to entertain ourselves if you don't supply entertainment?"
Fortunately, the majority of the members of the City Council understood that you can't spend corn you don't have, and that government is not a Nanny that should be doing everything for people.
In time, many of the freeloaders moved away from Corntown to other communities where they could still get all the freebies.
Then, wonder of wonders, the good decent citizens of Corntown started seeing the violent crime rate drop, the schools get better, and the quality of life improve.
"Why, how can this be?" they asked. "We have less corn than before, yet things are getting better in Corntown."
"This is truly an amazing turn of events. Can it be that we didn't really need the local government to give us all those freebies after all? And, is it possible that instead of helping us, the freebies had a corrosive effect on us and Corntown, and caused us to rely on government for everything instead of relying on ourselves?"
"You know," said one Corntownian, "there's more than a kernel of truth in all this. Maybe even a bushel of truth. It makes sense for people to take care of themselves and their families without the government doing it for them. Self-reliance will actually make Corntown a nicer place."
"Remember" said another Corntownian,"what President John F. Corneddy said: 'Ask not what your City government can do for you Corntownians, ask what you can do for yourself."
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WHEN YOU BEGIN THINKING FRUGALLY, SAVINGS ADD UP
City of Orange to save $50,000 by switching to lower octane gasoline.
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City of Orange to save $50,000 by switching to lower octane gasoline.
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