Posted by
Don Emerson on Monday, December 15, 2008 11:30:50 AM
My cousin Bill in Stillwater, Oklahoma recently sent me this interesting e-mail, one I had never before seen:
“These “Ten Points” appear every February 12 in an Illinois newspaper honoring Abraham Lincoln:
*You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
*You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
*You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
*You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
*You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
*You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
*You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class-hatred.
*You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
*You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence.
*You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves."
--Reverend William John Henry Boetcker (1873-1962)
I had never heard of Reverend Boetcker before this. He was born in Germany, but after immigrating to the United States became an ordained Presbyterian minister and a successful motivational speaker. I doubt he was a liberal. His pamphlet “The Ten Cannots” was published in 1916, yet many people over the years have attributed his “ten cannots” to Abraham Lincoln.
I find Reverend Boetcker’s “Ten Cannots” instructive in our current situation. America faces economic chaos; rising unemployment; business failures; home foreclosures; businesses requesting federal bailouts; increasing federal deficits; business and government corruption; Congressional earmarks; expanding government programs; an increasing entitlement burden; citizens/businesses infected with the victim, welfare, and entitlement gimme-syndrome; a lack of personal responsibility; growing personal debt; proposed tax increases on those with higher incomes and on businesses or more likely on all of us; politicians and citizens advocating class envy and hatred; citizens’ independence and initiative replaced with dependency; expanding government into all aspects of public and private life; a public education system in total chaos with the educational establishment and teacher’s unions saying for decades that more money would solve the problems; and, a host of other problems. Now we have bailout requests from state governments who have spent beyond their means and are facing huge deficits, especially California where liberals in the state legislature have spent like drunken sailors for years. Now California has an 11.2 billion dollar budget gap, while Texas has a current surplus of over 11 billion dollars. This old guy thinks something is going on in California that is obviously not happening in Texas. What could that be? Following the “ten cannots” would have prevented at least some of these problems. Even though lengthy, it would also behoove Americans to read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
Our federal government has legitimate functions enumerated in our Constitution. Over the years though, we have witnessed those functions expand beyond anything our founding forefather’s could have imagined possible. And where has all this gotten us? Better government and fewer taxes or more intrusive government and higher taxes? Now, I read about a new New Deal as the solution to our economic mess and a proposed massive public works program. This will improve the economy over the long haul? Tax payers will pay dearly for all of this, in addition to increasing the federal deficit. Our children and grandchildren will be left with even more debts. Were our current economic woes partially created by government (i.e. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac)? CEOs have been paid huge salaries and bonuses to badly manage companies. Now they receive bailouts from the taxpayers, continue to be paid their massive bonuses, and go on lavish trips. This is right? Unions (i.e. United Auto Workers) won benefit demands which eventually contributed to business failures, yet do not want to revise their contracts. Fair? Over the long haul, does draining the well dry create and maintain jobs, regardless of the wages and benefit packages unions win for their workers? Taxpayers did not cause these problems, yet we are expected to provide the bailouts. A new New Deal? Well, the old New Deal is hardly a guiding light. The Great Depression might not have been as severe, or lasted as long, had the Roosevelt Administration allowed the market to correct itself. The depression got worse, not better, lasting eight years into the FDR Administration and his New Deal. It was World War II that ended the Great Depression, not the New Deal programs. I think a new New Deal will turn out to be another of the government's Raw Deals.
Individual creativity and initiative, and the success coming with both, should not be punished with more government regulations and higher taxes. Why should individuals and businesses increase productivity and grow the business if the government will only confiscate a larger portion through taxes to spend on another of those boondoggles? Living by “The Ten Cannots” would have helped avoid some of these problems, if not all. Government is going to solve our problems? Laughable. When Congress constructs a Capitol Visitors Center that was supposed to cost 71 million, yet ends up costing 621 million, beware government solutions. Government is seldom the solution to problems; more often, it is the cause. That government is best which governs least. Will Rogers once said, “The country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.” How true!
Ronald Reagan’s three statements below need to be heard once again:
*“In Washington people don’t realize that you can’t drink yourself sober or spend yourself rich; that you can’t prime the pump without pumping the prime.”
*”There are two ways of doing things: the right way, and the way they do it in Washington.”
*”When our struggle seems hard, remember what Eric Liddell, Scotland’s Olympic champion runner, said in Chariots of Fire. He said, 'So where does the power come from to see the race to its end? From within. God made me for a purpose, and I will run for His pleasure.' If we trust in Him, keep His word, and live our lives for His pleasure, He’ll give us the power we need—power to fight the good fight, to finish the race, and to keep the faith.”
As it is with an individual, so it is with America.