Failure to Thrive

According to Merriam-Webster:Thrive 1 : to grow vigorously : FLOURISH

When a living organism gets to a point where there is no desire to do the basic things required to sustain life we say they have a failure to thrive. This can be seen particularly in the elderly population and sometimes in the mentally ill. For some reason, they do not wish to continue living so they don’t eat, drink, or interact and eventually they wither and die. As stated, there are many reasons for this. People are terminally ill, they have had a loved one die, or they are mentally ill and can not help themselves.

Unfortunately, we as a society create people who lack the will to thrive. We continue to give and give until people lose the desire to do for themselves. A wise man once said that you get more of what you subsidize. We have paid people not to work for so long that people are content not to work. They are not willing to do the work that is available. Special note to those offended by President Bush’s remark that we need worker visas for people who will come here to do work Americans don’t want to do. This is not because Americans are better than those people and it is absolutely untrue that we have a high unemployment rate. The fact is, there are Americans who will not work for lower wages because they make more off the government. Unemployment could be even lower than it is if we just get these people up and put them to work.

Add to this the idea that we need to have large scale wealth redistribution (socialism) and you have the makings of a disaster. We can give even more people the simple message that if they just wait they can have some of the money others have worked for. The idea that we can solve our problems by taking money from the more affluent and giving it to the less is just plain stupid. In addition to making people at the low end work less we will force people on the high end to find ways to keep their wealth. This could mean that they stop doing what ever productive work they are engaged in and just live off their amassed wealth. No more productivity means less money to give to the less affluent.

The government has created a portion of society so dependant upon the government that votes of these people are assured for generations to come. We now have so many people drawing money from the government that these entitlement programs make up the bulk of the money spent. Your tax dollars go to pay those who fail to thrive. Not only that, but your tax dollars are creating more people without the desire to “grow vigorously.”

There are those who think that we should pay for everyone to have as much in life as the next guy. They espouse the view that you do not have to work hard for anything so long as the next guy works hard for you both. We have people who think it would be great for the government to tell us what jobs to make and how much we may earn from those jobs. We have people who think that the government should live our lives for us. These misguided people live in a free country with the most enduring form of government yet they want us to change to socialism so everyone can live the same lives. These are the same people who tell us they are entitled to an opinion because if we all thought alike life would be bad. Why is it that these same people think it is OK to all make the same amount of money and have the same kind of lives? Why is it OK for us to make people who fail to thrive?

Organisms grow and thrive when challenged. We all do better when we have something to strive for. All people will do much better when there are goals and difficulties. All people will do better and feel greater satisfaction when they achieve on their own. We can not expect to have this as long as we subsidize those who do not thrive.

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5 Responses to “Failure to Thrive”

  1. Adam says:

    You’re so right. The poor just don’t want to work because we give them so much. We give them so much that they’d rather just live off the government than get a job that a Mexican would come here to do. And if we keep on giving to the poor, the rich will stop being rich so they can get free stuff too! Why work for it, if you can get it for free?

    You really spewed some vile stuff in this entry. I doubt you’ve ever been close to poverty or joblessness, or you wouldn’t be making such statements. I doubt you’ve ever had to live on the government’s payment while raising a family. If you did you would never suggest that we are creating a society of dependent people. Man that is a gross thing to say. I could be way off though, and if I am I think you should explain a bit more how you come to these ideas. The experience with my family was growing up with a disabled father, and a mother who struggled to own her own buisness. I know a thing or two about living off the government. Your thinking is so flawed and makes me sick at my stomach literally.

    Damn man, nobody is saying the guy next door can work twice as hard for you. It has to do with realizing there are flaws in this system of capitalism and trying to overcome them. Its kind of like saying you have the choice of fishing for the guy, or have him go hungry. The system that teaches the guy to fish still lets him starve.

    What day and what month is your birthday?

  2. Dave says:

    So very true, Big Dog! I know of a man who started his own business. It flourished. He opened several branches of his business in this area. They flourished. He opend several more branches in places around the country. They flourished. He had dozens and dozens of happy employees. He had hundreds and thousands of happy clients. The government demanded that he annually give over 50% of his earnings to them so that they could give the money to other people who had not earned it. He closed all but one of his branches. It is inevitable! This is one of the miriad of reasons socialism is an utter failure each and every time it is attempted.

  3. Big Dog says:

    Adam,
    I know there are exceptions to everything. The fact that your family had a different experience is the exception rather than the rule. You get more of what you pay for and we pay people not to work. We pay unwed women more for more kids and it creates an endless cycle of dependancy and poverty.
    I had modest means growing up. There were times when we we worried about whether to pay a bill or buy food. I have had times where there were three days of food left and six days until payday. I managed and I did what I had to as far as work to get food on the table. There are plenty of jobs that Americans will NOT do. If the Mexicans are willing to do them then so be it. They need to be done.
    Adam, we have made a society that thinks the government should take care of our every need. You feel that the government should be involved in wealth redistribution and that we should pay for just about everything people want or need. You have stated this in many of your posts. I do not feel that way and I feel that giving people stuff without making them work for it or earn it is a disaster.
    I am where I am due to hard work. Perhaps this should be a trait we admire in people.

  4. Adam says:

    I admire hard work, of course. I do think the government can pay for things though, and should. You look at America and see a place where everybody can work for what they need. You think the governments job keep us safe and keep our economy secure. I see an America where the playing field is not level, and where class structure keeps people from doing the things they want to do. I see an America where mental illness is looked down on, where drug addiction is pushed under the rug, and where homelessness is just a burden, not a responsibility. I see an America where the color of your skin STILL matters. When it comes to racism I will always wonder in my life if I have the things I have, the opportunities I have, because I’m a white male, or because I worked for it and earned it. You make so much fun of the Two Americas thing that Edwards sells, but it’s nothing to laugh at. Capitalism creates a struggle between the lower middle and upper classes, and that is wrong. The government should provide for us. I don’t care how advanced medicine is or how much it costs; healthcare should be a human right. The right to raise a family without having to work three jobs to meet ends should be a human right. The list goes on, and on. Don’t you see? Socialism is not about giving people things they don’t want to work for; it is about giving people the things they deserve that capitalism doesn’t provide.

  5. Schatz says:

    I couldn’t agree more with this post – we continue to propagate future generations of people that “think the government can pay for things, and should.” What happened to not having a family until you can afford it rather than having one and then wondering who is going to help support them? What happened to realizing your potential and working hard to improve yourself instead of finding any and every excuse to be complacent and dependent on a system fueled by people with determination and drive?

    I have to say that I see where the government can be useful in helping out those in need. However, being in need should be a short-term situation not a life-long endeavor. We need to create a society who helps themselves (and not to someone else’s money or property). We need to start making people responsible for their actions, their selves, their future, and their offspring. May are too quick to place blame for their situations and actions on society, a video game, the violent media, a bad childhood, poverty or any number of other factors that the vast majority of us deal with at one time or another in our lifes.

    With all due respect Adam, perhaps you did get whatever you have by being a white male because from what I am reading, you don’t have many other redeeming qualities.