Why It’s Sometimes Immoral To Treat The Poor and Uneducated As Equals (A Libertarian Essay)
By Daniel Miessler on April 28th, 2007: Tagged as Class | Culture | Liberalism | Lottery | Politics | Race
Those with political agendas like to conveniently flip-flop in philosophy when it comes to how they view the poor and disadvantaged in this country. Half the time they want to say they need special treatment because they aren’t like the rest of us, and other times they get offended if you even suggest that they be given special consideration.
This is unfortunate because progress can’t be made until we define the problem, and I’d argue that our first priority is to collectively realize how utterly disadvantaged the uneducated class is compared to those who have high-school and especially college educations 1.
A recent post by Scott Adams reminded me of something I’ve been wanting to write about for a long time now. He asked whether or not it would be ok to burn poor people for energy if it was based on a volunteer-only system, and if only one out of 20 people were chosen. So basically, if you volunteered you had a 1/20 chance of being chosen for death, which would help power a whole city or state, and the other 19 people would be given a myriad of benefits, such as a car, a home, etc.
He asked two things, 1) whether or not this would be ok morally, and more interestingly, 2) whether or not we were already doing something like this. The answer is that we are, and that thing we’re doing is what I’ve wanted to comment on for years.
It’s called the lottery.
What I See
I get the opportunity to travel often, and I often find myself in small towns throughout the south and other parts of the country. It constantly shocks me to see what happens on a minute to minute, hour to hour, and day to day basis — all day, every day — in these small towns.I basically walk in, grab a water or diet drink and a bag of beef jerky, and go to wait in line. But sometimes I’ll just hang out for a bit to people-watch. What I see is unwaveringly consistent: a constant stream of the underclass, filing in with crumpled up cash (they tend not to have checking accounts, I’m guessing) and lottery tickets. Many of the towns I go through are in the south, so it’s usually a majority of black folks, followed by white people, then the Mexicans who have recently immigrated. No Asians or Indians, of course.
It’s constant. Every time. Every gas station. Every little town. Always. A constant stream of people who are dressed poorly, have poor dental hygiene, and a less than powerful command of the English language. They’re poor and uneducated, and they buy three things en masse: alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets. Over and over. All day, every day.
Society’s Role
When I see this two things happen to me: first I get angry at those who are buying the crap, and then I relax and realize that they’re just trapped in a cycle of failure that they don’t know how to pull out of. Then I ask the inevitable question: what is society doing to help these people?The answer is nothing. Why are we doing nothing? Two reasons:
- Liberals don’t do anything because they lack the balls to stand up and say, “These people are not capable of knowing what’s best for themselves; they need help making decisions for themselves, much like children.” They’re politically correct pussies, basically, and their will to be PC is causing harm to the world.
- Conservatives, on the other hand, don’t do anything because they don’t give a fuck about these people. They’re happy to chant along with the liberals about “equality” just so long as at it keeps the poor, uneducated people funding their childrens’ education. But in fact they know damn well these people aren’t “deciding” anything. They’re programmed to do blue-collar work (or absorb government assistance), reproduce, watch T.V., buy DVDs, and spend any money they have on alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets. Conservatives like them this way because as long as there’s an under-class there can be higher ones.
It’s sickening.
I’ve resisted the temptation so many times to pull these people aside and try and wake them up. But given the social structure in most of these places it’s likely just futile. Who’s going to believe some random white guy in a BMW who says the lottery is a scam when they know for a fact that it’s real because their friend Shirley just won $500 dollars last week?
I wish there were some way to wake people up in this world. It’s time to stop treating the disadvantaged as equals, and more like children who can become equals. They aren’t naturally inferior, just as children aren’t — they simply haven’t been shown the way. And to pretend that they have been, and choose to live this way, is reprehensible.
To let the underclass try and fend for itself is cowardly and shameful. Liberals allow it to happen due to a lack of testicle and spine. Conservatives do so, ironically enough, due to a lack of morality.:
– 1 This isn’t to say that wisdom, intelligence, or success is always granted by more education — we know that not to be the case — but in general it’s true that those with more education tend to make better, long-term focused decisions in life.
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You said: “The lottery is nothing more than a cleverly disguised tax on the poor.”
From the Dept of Treasury : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115714468338152049.html
The top 0.1% of taxpayers by income pay 17.4% of all federal taxes (earning 9.1% of the income),
The top 1% pay 36.9% (earning 19%), the top 5% pay 57.1% (earning 33.4%)
The bottom 50% pay 3.3% (earning 13.4%).
Considering that the bottom 50% only pay 3.3% of taxes are you really worried about how the poor are getting a raw deal in America? The numbers say you’re wrong. Or do you argue that these numbers are fabricated?
Comment by KirkH — 4/28/2007 @ 4:57 pm
I’m not commenting at all about whether they pay too much or too little in taxes. All I’m saying is that the lottery is being used to make them pay more by virtue of their stupidity, and that this is unbecoming of an advanced society.
Comment by Daniel Miessler — 4/28/2007 @ 6:18 pm
I used to believe that lottery was a math tax too, until i found an interesting article about it (lost link, sorry).
The idea of the article goes like this: My chances of being finantially suscesfull with my work is high. So lottery’s cost/benefice is very low for me.
BUT this is the case for me. If I have no chance of success in my work, then the cost/benefice of lottery is much better.
So, in this case poor people are not bad at math. Their reality is different.
Comment by John — 4/28/2007 @ 6:45 pm
“I’ve seen a 20-something guy (who was able to walk on his own and was obviously able to lift 40 pounds) purchase 2 liters of soda, a whole fried chicken, and a carton of cigarettes with food stamps.”
You can’t purchase cigarettes or cooked meat with food stamps.
Comment by Matt — 4/29/2007 @ 1:08 am
“To let the underclass try and fend for itself is cowardly and shameful.”
Underprivileged is a vague/relative definition in this country. You want to see underprivileged, join the military and go to Southwest Asia or Northern Africa. In this country, if you’re underprivileged, you “entitled” to free food, free rent support, free medical, free education (most don’t want it), and free money. Crappy as it all may be, it’s still a heck of a lot better than what most of the planet gets.
If you’re feeling guilty, give them your money and let them sleep at your house. Please don’t take any more of mine (33% of my income goes to income taxes, before I pay property tax, school tax, luxury tax, and sales tax). Yeah, I paid a bit extra for my home but the price included a reasonable assurance that guns don’t go off on a regular basis and my neighbor isn’t selling the drug de jour at the corner.
I’ve bought that lottery ticket you whine about. In that same line at the convenience store, I’ve seen a 20-something guy (who was able to walk on his own and was obviously able to lift 40 pounds) purchase 2 liters of soda, a whole fried chicken, and a carton of cigarettes with food stamps. Given that his whole purchase could have been much cheaper if he walked an extra block to the local supermarket, it was obvious that he was treating his food stamps as a luxury. Yeah, he was poor. But to call him “disadvantaged” would have been a poor label.
If you want to help the poor, donate your own resources (time and money). Please don’t insist that I help you. I dragged my own tail off of a dirt poor dairy farm. I’m not in any mood to carry anyone that’s able to walk on their own.
Comment by anonymous coward — 4/29/2007 @ 1:49 am
Having trouble determining what your post is about. Is it about the lottery being unfair, or is it about liberals and conservatives not doing enough to help the poor, or is it about treating poor people like idiots? Not sure.
I think you are wrong about most liberals. They think most people in the US are not capable of deciding what they want, poor, middle class, or rich. That is why they want huge bloated governments to make decisions for you.
I think you are wrong about most conservatives. They do care. But they want those people to pick themselves up by their boot straps, not give them a hand out. And I believe I have seen that conservatives generally give more in charity that liberals, but that could be wrong. I don’t have the time to look up the statistic.
I doubt most poor people are unaware of what the world is like outside their sphere. You can be dirt poor in the US and still have a TV. All you have to do is watch TV or listen to a radio to get an idea of what the “privileged” people live like. They may not have the skills or education to get out of their circumstances, but I don’t think they are ignorant of it.
And whether you like it or not, some people CHOOSE to stay in those circumstances and play the lottery hoping they will get rich without having to work for it.
Comment by Michael R. Farnum — 4/29/2007 @ 10:59 am
“You can’t purchase cigarettes or cooked meat with food stamps.”
Having grown up here, where ~25% of the population receives food stamps (including my family at the time), I can tell you that you’re mistaken. You can purchase almost anything with food stamps. What I suspect you meant to say was that you’re not supposed to be able to.
Worse, that’s inside the store. Outside, you can buy literally anything. Drugs, guns, blowjobs, whatever, at roughly 50 cents on the dollar.
It’s a funny thing rules, only the “haves” follow them. The “have not’s” could give a fuck.
Comment by Dave — 4/29/2007 @ 1:37 pm
The “here” listed above was supposed to be a link to here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary,_Indiana
Comment by Dave — 4/29/2007 @ 1:38 pm
I’d say that the cost/benefit ratio is just as low for someone in a dead-end job. The only difference is that the ratio of everything else is just as shitty.
Comment by Pavel — 4/30/2007 @ 10:55 am
FYI:
Being Poor
Reader Request 2007 #5: Out of Poverty
I take exception to your comment, “No Asians or Indians, of course.” Do you mean to say because they do not frequent those stores or that they don’t live in those areas or that, somehow, they “know better”? Come to my neighborhood and come to NYC’s Chinatown. You’ll see lottery fever in full swing.
I find it amusing that the lottery is always pointed out as an evil. Don’t you realize the stock market is simply a legalized lottery?
To wipe the dust off your eyes: The Predictors. That’s a start. There are many others.
I speak with personal authority here: having grown up poor and having been on the inside of a Wall Street bank’s software project.
It also personally pisses me off that no distinction is made between lack of money and behavior.
Comment by Mike Cane — 4/30/2007 @ 11:11 am
[...] Knows What To Do About Everyone Else (Not That I’m Any Goddammed Exception!) Why It’s Sometimes Immoral To Treat The Poor and Uneducated As Equals (A Libertarian Essay) When I see this two things happen to me: first I get angry at those who are buying the crap, and [...]
Pingback by Everyone Knows What To Do About Everyone Else (Not That I'm Any Goddammed Exception!) « Mike Cane’s Blog — 4/30/2007 @ 1:05 pm
Michael,
Looking back at my post, I think you have good points. I also agree with your models for liberals and conservatives, in many cases. And since your models are the opposite of mine, which I also agree with, I guess my problem is generalization.
Arik would be angry with me. :)
I need to work on being more precise with my language somehow. I don’t disagree with what I wrote, but so many took it wrong that it’s pretty obvious that the essay itself sucked. Multiple interpretations in some types of writing might be ok, but not in the type I’m trying to do.
Meh…much learning to do.
Comment by Daniel Miessler — 4/30/2007 @ 9:14 pm
A stupidity tax; I agree with you absolutely! I’ve been calling it that for years. People who are:
1) Intellectually incapable of perceiving the overwhelming odds against ANY long-term benefit (let alone the near-implausibility of winning the jackpot) and/or…
2) So ignorantly superstitious that they just “know” they’ll be “the one” to win (ignorance tax), and/or…
3) Simply so desperate that they attempt such tenuous means (dreaming/praying!) to improve their circumstances (desperation tax)…
…ought not be exploited wontonly by those elected to serve them. People in any of the above categories are more likely to be of modest means, and their dispostions will probably keep them so. The problem is that in a referendum, even THEY would likely vote keep lotteries in favor of, for example, taxing corporations adequately. I know even middle-class people who are suckered into buying in to the same dream (admittedly, I don’t feel so bad about them being exploited; they really ought to know better). How could this ever be fixed?
Comment by Joe Huybens — 9/2/2007 @ 1:07 am