Voltaire Quote and Some Thoughts



Cross-posted at the Left Coast Rebel

"Work banishes those three great evils, boredom, vice, and poverty."

--Voltaire

No doubt a great quote (thanks to a family member on Facebook).

As a personal aside I am not bored in the slightest and haven't been in some time. I engage in no device(s), weekends excepted of course...

Poverty -- though Obamanomics has adversely affected each and every one of us -- is not something I have the misfortune of looking forward to.

And I thank my family, my hard work upbringing -- as well as a sharp, active mind and the opportunity that even this damaged, great nation affords -- for just that.

Though I am tired at times, you won't find me bitching and moaning, homesteading or squatting and complaining about how unfair life is and how a benevolent Nanny State should rectify all the ills and injustices of our unjust society or accepting (in the slightest) that which our culture spews at us that is anathema to what a free mind and spirit ought to aspire to.

Rather, I hold my head high knowing I'm doing things the clear-conscience good-old-fashioned rugged-individualistic American way.

This Rand quote from the Ayn Rand Institute sums up the dynamic I am thinking of tonight:
Parasites seek to be taken care of, but producers seek the responsibility of choice and decision. Parasites do not look beyond the range of the immediate moment, but producers have to see and plan long-range. Parasites rely on the good will and the capricious favor of a benefactor—but producers do not live by favor and cannot function or build gigantic industries which the whim of a ruler may wipe out at any moment. What the producers need is not handouts, but freedom. And freedom is not among the gifts that the welfare state has the power to dispense.

More on the Ayn Rand Column where this quote was lifted from:

During the last half of 1962, Ayn Rand was a weekly columnist for the Los Angeles Times. This book contains those 26 articles along with several other unanthologized and lesser-known pieces by her.

The following is from the Introduction: "Her perspective on the news is not that of the daily reporter, but that of the grand historian, whose time frame is the centuries and whose function is to explain the world by reference to universal truths. Whether she is scrutinizing Algeria's civil war or... Alger Hiss's appearance on television -- Ayn Rand always has something of enduring interest to communicate."

Table of Contents

Introduction by Peter Schwartz

The Ayn Rand Column

1. Introducing Objectivism
2. War and Peace
3. Progress or Sacrifice
4. The New Enemies of "The Untouchables"
5. An Intellectual Coup d’État
6. "The Cold Civil War"
7. Government by Intimidation
8. Let Us Alone!
9. Just Suppose
10. Through Your Most Grievous Fault
11. An Open Letter to My Readers
12. Mickey Spillane
13. "The Dying Victim of Berlin"
14. Ninety-Three
15. Blind Chaos
16. The Man-Haters
17. The Season of Platitudes
18. Our Alleged Competitor
19. Britain’s "National Socialism"
20. Nationalism vs. Internationalism
21. The Cuban Crisis
22. Post-Mortem, 1962
23. How to Demoralize a Nation
24. Freedom of Speech
25. The Munich of World War III?
26. Vandalism

Other Writings

27. The Only Path to Tomorrow
28. The First Amendment and "Symbolic Speech"
29. The Secular Meaning of Christmas
30. Favorite Writers
31. Questions and Answers on Anthem
32. Why I Like Stamp Collecting
Long live the individualist

by the Left Coast Rebel

Comments

  1. AnonymousWed Mar 14, 12:15:00 AM EDT

    Congratulations! You have a job. Do you mean to suggest that those who do not have a job are parasites?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Les CarpenterWed Mar 14, 02:43:00 AM EDT

      I do not speak for the author of this fine piece.

      However... Are you suggesting that there are NO parasites?

      It is pretty clear there are those who do not have a job that are NOT parasites. These are fine individuals that as a result of conditions beyond their control lost their job due to circumstance. They are the kind that always seem to bounce back.

      It is also pretty clear there are those who play the system for all they can get and work very little by choice. They are the parasites I believe you are attempting to bait me with by your question.

      There is another type of parasite that is saved for a discussion at a later time.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousWed Mar 14, 08:24:00 PM EDT

    What % of people would you say are playing the system?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Les CarpenterWed Mar 14, 10:53:00 PM EDT

      The raw number of people playing the system might be higher than ever but I suspect the % would be near the same as it always has been.

      Delete

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