|
|
|
----- Original Message -----
From: James Von Brunn
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 8:09 AM
Subject: Kicking the Faculty's Tail.
Subject: Commencement Address at Texas A&M
It is the season of commencement speeches. Many are boringly predictable. Neal Boortz, a Texan, lawyer, Texas Aggie, now nationally syndicated talkshow host from Atlanta is an exception. Agree or not you will find his views thought provoking. It would have been particularly entertaining to witness the faculty's reaction.
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
your way 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,
myself 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, just 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 andbenefit. 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 it's
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, 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. Ye, 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 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 health care 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 mean 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 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. 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. Quite a few people have made that mistake. 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 in 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 Peter Jennings puffs up and
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 to get. That's OK, though. I still have my Ph.D. 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 United States. 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.
"It is a sad piece of cunning if we want to deceive ourself over someone to whom we have sacrificed ourself and create for him the occasion in which he has to appear to us as we wish he were." - Nietzsche
REMEDIUM AMORIS
©-free 2003 Adelaide Institute