“Friend, you cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. And what one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government can’t give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody. And when half of the people get the idea they don’t have to work because the other half’s going to take care of them, and when the other half get the idea it does no good to work because somebody’s going to get what I work for. That, dear friend, is about the end of any nation.” Adrian Rogers

Keith, a friend of mine, wrote the quote above as his update on facebook. I gave him the response that follows. And a debate ensues. Enjoy.

Rudolf: Keith, that is B/S. Those who say this know nothing about the life of the half who waits to be given. The rich cannot survive one day living like those who get government assistance. So it is all bullshit. Who actually makes the money for those who pay all these taxes that run the system? It is underpaid workers who create the wealth of these big mouths. I say let them quit their luxury lives and test what it feels like to be poor, just for a day. Nonsense!

Keith: Oga Rudie, you are entitled to your opinion that this is all bulldung. However, the main problem lies right within your lines. There are those who ‘wait to be given’ as you say & those who get up, work hard & apply themselves to make a decent living & even beyond that. Not everyone who is wealthy is greedy & unfair to their workers so you can’t punish all on that. Can’t be mad at Michael Jordan for being the great basketball player that he is. He worked hard for everything special he brought to the game & he deserves his reward. So it is with genuinely business savvy individuals. By the way, those who sit on their backsides & wait to get will always b guaranteed votes for those power hungry elite politicians who forcefully take away from the achievers. Plus, they never have any ambition to rise above their state so they keep relying on hand outs. To demand that riches of the wealthy be confiscated is simply tyranny.

To put it another way....What if your daughter worked hard and made a 100 on a test and a boy in her class made a 40? This guy played video games all night or hang out with his boys so he has a failing mark and your daughter has a high passing mark. Would it be fair to take 30 of your daughter’s points, bring her down to a 70, give the 30 to the boy that made the 40 and bring him up to 70 and everything is equal?

Rudolf: Ok, Keith, I hope you have not been watching a whole lot of Fox News and Glenn Beck.

Now let me break it down for you.

First of all, more than 60% of working Americans do not pay income tax. And that includes you. But if you do pay, you may need to change your accountant. You do not pay income tax when you get your taxes refunded to you after you filed taxes.

Those who pay income taxes are usually those who make six figures and up. First, they exhaust all possible avenues to avoid paying before they bow to Uncle Sam. Some buy private jets and claim it as work expense. Some musicians build studios at home and claim the house as office spaces. So their business pays for their living expenses. Most business owners spend all the money they could before they declare profit, knowing that the government will tax whatever profit they declared. Some CEOs in New York spend six figures to secure prime parking spots for their cars. It is absurd when people who get $400 haircut every two weeks complain about $450 welfare check someone else got each month.

It is all gimmicks out there. But those who buy the propaganda of the right do think there is truth in it.

Do not forget that we have tried the alternative – and it wasn’t pretty. There used to be a time in America when there was no Medicare, no Social Security check and no Welfare check. Go back and look at how life was in America. The quality of life was poor.

In fact, you don’t have to look back. Just fly down to Nairobi and look around. The ability of the government to tax capable individuals and corporations and use the money to provide social services, amenities and safety nets is the only difference between Nairobi and New York.

If you are pissed off by the tax situation here, you should be perfectly happy in Nairobi.

And as a Christian, which I assume you are, you must remember that the holy book says that the poor will always be here with us. What we do with them has a lot of impact on what happens to us when we end this brief time on this earth. If I am not mistaken, the same book commended someone for caring for the poor. “When I was hungry,” it says, “you fed me. When I was naked, you clothed me.”

Keith, why do you want the poor to go to bed hungry? Why do you want the poor to walk around naked? Because of what? Money? Mere material thing we are all going to leave here on earth when we answer the big call.

Using your off beat analogy, if my daughter will give up some of her scores to those who scored far less and still get to go to Harvard while the not so bright students go to Tidewater Community College, I have no problem with it. Which is exactly what happens in this case. Those who receive government assistance live in the projects while those who live in mansions (in safe and secured neighborhoods) are asked to give up a little to improve the life of others. I rather have a bar in my house than a liquor store down my street.

It has been said that if the few who are rich cannot help the many who are poor, the many who are poor cannot save the few who are rich. It is really a symbiotic relationship. The only reason why nobody was hitting the roof because Michael Jordan was being paid millions was because they had access to a home, even though it might not be a mansion; access to health care, even though it might not be golden; access to transportation, even though it might not be a limo.

Check the history of mankind and the history of world revolutions and you will see that what triggered them all was that the moment the few who are rich failed to care about the many who are poor, a revolution occurs.

The last time I checked, most people want to be rich. Many actually try but do not know how. I do not know many who are fighting tooth and nail to live in the projects and depend on the government to give them handouts.

If you really think those who receive assistance are living the good life, why not join them? If it is so lucrative, why haven’t many who are rich closed their businesses to join them?

Please read about the Great Depression and Obama’s last speech to the joint session of Congress. He talked about our common humanity. If we lose it, we have lost what made us humans.