The Quiet Conservative February 17, 2009
Fishing
Lao Tzu - "Give a Man a Fish, Feed Him For a Day. Teach a Man to Fish, Feed Him For a
Lifetime" You have heard this before. The traditional meaning is clear. You aren't helping anyone
by giving them something. If you help someone learn to provide for themselves they will be self
reliant. That is true help. Lao Tzu was not a liberal. Lao Tzu is not a friend of the revolution.
Here is how the current socialists in charge of the US would think about Lao Tzu's quote: It is
better to leave us in charge of the fish. If you teach a man to fish, then all hell breaks loose. What if
he gets too successful fishing? What if someone else isn't as successful? Why should one man get
more fish than another? If we control the fishing then we decide who gets the fish and how much.
We are much smarter than any fishermen. We went to Harvard and Yale and Princeton. We are
Marxists who know which wine to serve with fish. These are weighty matters best left to those who
know. The American people demand better fish policy.
What if the man who is fishing impacts the environment? Who protects the rights of the fish? Did the
man do an environmental impact study on fishing? Did we tell the man he could fish? Who is he to
think he can fish anywhere and anytime he wants?
He might sell his fish and then become an arrogant capitalist concentrating the wealth. Who is he to
be making money off fish? We should control the value and distribution of the fish. This way we
ensure the right people get the right amount of fish if they have filled out the right forms, or know the
right people.
Plus, how is the man fishing? Is he being cruel to the fish? Why eat fish when you can have a faux
fish alternative made out of tofu and approved by PETA? Fish are actually 'sea kittens' according to
PETA. What about his boat? Does it have adequate flotation devices aboard? Was the boat union
made? Does the hull have lead free paint? Is the boat minority or women owned? What about the
makeup of the crew? If it is just one man in a dugout canoe, is he gay? Is he native American? How
culturally diverse is this fisherman? This just won't do. The government is in charge of fish and the
individual submits to the greater good of the state. The state decides what is good.
You see, teach a man to fish and you lose control of him. Why does he need you if he provides for
himself? But, give a man a fish and he owes you. He is in your debt. Give him a fish the next night
too, so he knows you mean it. Soon, you give him a fish every night. Then, he only gets fish from
you. You control him. What you give to him, you can take away. The man will do what you say
because you are the source of his fish. If he irritates you, if he doesn't do what you say, he doesn't
eat that night. Neither does his wife or kids. You can, over time, degrade the man until he cannot
imagine his life without you in charge giving him his food. He got the fish. YOU got the power.
Am I still talking about Lao Tzu? Of course not. I am talking about welfare. I am talking about the
Great Society programs that took black America's illegitimacy rate from 22% to over 70% destroying
the black family. The fatherless black men that resulted from these broken homes now cram our
prisons and the community suffers from the results of this social programming. I am talking about
generations lost. I am not talking about fish. I am talking about the Stimulus package and the TARP
funds and nationalized health care.
Liberalism relies on destroying the individual on behalf of the group. Socialism relies on the state
being the provider of all there is. From the cradle to the grave the state becomes the source of
sustenance. What need has a man of achievement, of independence, of God, of morals, of dreams,
when the state provides all, controls all. It is the ultimate slavery of the soul. It is the soft despotism
of a comfortable hell.
The stimulus package passed. It was signed today by the President. It is designed to fail. It will
achieve its design. Already other stimulus packages are suggested in the works. They too will fail.
The TARP funds already spent were misspent. The Federal Government overpaid for bank assets to
the tune of 78 billion. No common voter knows where the rest of the money went.
The major auto makers are back at the Congress asking for more money. You knew they would
be. They had to be. No one can tell you how they can do anything else. They too, are designed to
fail. They too will succeed.
The Democratic Party doesn't care about fiscal responsibility. They don't care about the prosperity
of the nation. They don't want individual success. They do not want individual achievement. What
they want is to bring everyone down to the same level of dependence on them as the providers of the
fish. The bail outs and packages are the handing out of fish. Nowhere do they try and teach you to
fish for yourselves. They wouldn't think of it. Otherwise, you wouldn't need them anymore. Lau
Tzu and his sayings have no place in modern liberal philosophy. He is no friend of the revolution.