The Patriot Corner

For many years now, we have been hearing terms such as "income inequality" and "the wealthiest one percent." It's not hard to understand why these terms are so easily thrown about by our "leaders" as they create mental images of the "evil rich" rolling around in piles of cash while the poor suffer. Some of the more recent manifestations of this have been President Obama and his non-stop call to "tax the rich" and the Occupy Wall Street movement. These roads lead to class warfare, redistribution of wealth and eventually Communism.

In the Declaration of Independence, the phrase "All men are created equal" does not mean that we are all entitled to equal results. What it does mean is we are all equal under the law and have an equal opportunity to control our own destiny. Think for a moment about your own family. Do all of your siblings earn the same amount as you? Probably not, even though you were raised in the same environment, share the same genes and had relatively the same opportunities. How could this be? Might it be that we all have different talents, make different choices and have different ideas of success? 

Let me be clear about this. I don't care about income inequality. In fact, I encourage it. What better motivation could there possibly be to improve yourself monetarily? I do care that people are able to meet their basic needs such as food, drink and shelter. I also care about giving people every opportunity to succeed if they work hard. No one should be held back because of race, gender or anything else other than an ability to do the job. 

Continued use of the term "income inequality" does encourage one very serious condition. It makes people believe they can't make it. Studies have shown that in the period studied, adjusting for inflation, the average family's income rose by 35% and the income per person in the household was up 153% (less children per household) in just one generation. The same study shows that those who make the least amount (bottom 20%) now have an almost 60% chance that their children will move into another income group. In other words, we've got to stop telling people they can't do it and instead help them realize that one of the keys to success is simply to believe they can. When you think success is possible, you spend more time finding ways to achieve it, rather than complaining about imperfections in the system. You don't deserve a trophy for participating. What you do deserve, and need, is a realization of how the real world operates. The phrase is "to the victor go the spoils," not "spoil those who aren't the victor."

Many of the greatest people in history were born into humble beginnings. They were able to struggle and persevere through adversity as they rose to the top, and so can you. Let me remind you that Jesus was born in a manger.

I have enjoyed sharing some of my opinions with you this year and hope I have encouraged you to look at things from a different perspective. Let me take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I look forward to continuing my time with you in 2012.