EARTH GETS ITS PRICE FROM WHAT EARTH GIVES US….’
Kamala Harris said something at the beginning of her campaign for President that has been said a thousand times by those on the progressive liberal left over the past 60 years. She said that we were all born on different rungs of the ladder and those born on the lower rungs needed more help so that in the end we would all end up at the top together. Who wants to work their butts off to be the same as everybody else? We work hard if we can be better. She like many on the liberal left define equity and equality in temporal materialistic terms. Michael Milken of Drexel fame defines these terms in The George Washington Public Health Newsletter:
“Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.”
Our Founding Fathers had a very different view of equality and equity. It was understood by the colonists that the phrase “WE ARE ALL CREATED EQUAL” was inspired by the book of Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Because we are all made in God’s spiritual image we share a common humanity. Our equality before God informs us how we are to treat each other as equals regardless of our physical or intellectual differences.
They also understood the term equity to mean fairness before the law, as opposed to any social justice ideal of fairness; regardless of circumstances, while understanding that the term “fair” in human affairs was an impossibility. To be precise they understood that we are all born with unique talents, abilities, and aptitudes. Not everyone was born to be an athlete, mathematician, or to be an artist or musician. This is all good and appropriate. If we were all born with the same physical and intellectual traits there would be no need for a division of labor, or the development of an economy where different people applied their talents to most efficiently allocate scarce resources.
Equality was grounded in Biblical traditions. The Classical Liberal ideal of equity was secular in its origins. Fairness and equity when applied to humans by humans is never perfect. As my Quaker grandfather always told us—there is no such thing as fair or human justice. You either get too much justice or too little justice but justice and fairness aren’t perfect. As kids when we complained that something “wasn’t fair” he would say sternly—”that’s right and….” He would make us repeat “and that’s good”.
How awful would it be if the NBA had the requirement that every player be six foot six inches tall, have a 32-inch vertical leap, be right-handed and run at the same speed and shoot every shot from the same distance to the basket. Or what about if everybody in the Olympic 100-meter dash be required to run and only run a 10 flat time. If everybody was the same there would be no need for competition, no need to work to become better, and no need for specialization and uniquely skilled labor. By using our own individual unique talents, we work to become better thus making all of society better for our work.
“A BEGGER IS TAXED FOR A CORNER TO LIE IN
WE BARGAIN FOR THE GRAVES WE DIE IN”
One of the great unrecognized differences between the political factions in our country is the differences in how we reach our various positions on the ladder of life. If one starts at the very bottom—at one time every one of our ancestors started at the bottom and reaches half way up they have created great utility in their own life and value for their families. Just think today a person living at the lowest 20% of income in our country has all the advantages of modern life, good food and water, indoor plumbing. Over 40% of the world today can’t say the same thing and up until the turn of the 20th century the King of England and everywhere else, the Kings had to use outdoor plumbing.
AT THE DEVIL’S BOOTH ARE ALL THINGS SOLD
EACH OUNCE OF DROST COSTS ITS OUNCE OF GOLD
If on the other hand one is given much in the way of material advantage, and nothing is done to improve either one’s own position in life, leads a selfish life of consumption and indulgence without casting a care for others, and by not investing in the work of life they end up at the same place on the ladder where they started, they have then accomplished nothing and repaid society zero. If a person starts at the bottom of the ladder and doesn’t rise, or if they start at the top and don’t rise, they have accomplished the same thing and they live in the same “bubble”.
BUBBLES WE BUY FOR A WHOLE SOULS ASKING
TIS HEAVEN ALONE THAT CAN BE HAD FOR THE ASKING” James Russell Lowell
“If you live in a bubble, you are easily (bought)—jml and gamned” Greg Gutfeld
If you don’t have to work for a living. If you are living off the wealth of others—your family, an inheritance, a business that was built by somebody else that you haven’t worked hard to make grow. If you are a lifetime politician living off the largesse of a benefactor who has bought your vote, you are probably living in the “elitist bubble of utopia” If you are one of those that has been confronted with the high costs of daily living—of groceries, taxes, mortgages, or the high cost of having to dip into your IRA, then you are living in a different “bubble” than Kamala and many of her suburban liberal elitist expert friends.
For people who are working for their families and struggling to accumulate security and wealth, and who because of that struggle understand the gift that work brings to ones understanding of one’s own intrinsic value, they will be the beneficiaries of their labors if they can be allowed to direct the fruits of their individual labors back to their families and communities. If there is an ever-increasing burden on the individual, families, small businesses, because of the almost geometrical growth of government with an ever-increasing percentage of waste, fraud, and corruption, then the American Dreams of our forefathers will not be available to our children and their children
Donald Trump lives in the bubble of the American family, worker, farmer and businessman.
Kamala lives in the bubble of the elite expert ruling class.
Two very different bubbles I say.
3 replies on “Different Bubbles, Different Realities”
Regardless how much less a whore gets paid for her services than other higher priced whores, she’s nonetheless a prostitute.
Hello Republicans!
Socialism (impossible under a biblical government) is well and alive on both sides of the imaginary aisle.
For example, you’ll be hard pressed to find either a Donkey or an Elephant that’s not all in when it comes to the Constitutional Republic’s socialistic public education system, financed, in part, by the insidious property tax that’s responsible (along with eminent domain and public lands) for confiscating every square inch of private property in America.
This was made possible by Amendment 5’s provision for government confiscation (theft) of private property.
For more, see Chapter 14 “Amendment 5: Constitutional vs. Biblical Judicial Protection” of free online book “Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective” at https://www.bibleversusconstitution.org/BlvcOnline/biblelaw-constitutionalism-pt14.html
Sounds as if America has been “off the rails” from the start.
Humanly speaking, can anything be done realistically now?
John:
This post is an excellent example of how NOT to either start or end a blog post and how to thoroughly botch a quotation.
You begin with one botched line of a quote but then doesn’t tell us who, what, when or where:
“EARTH GETS ITS PRICE FROM WHAT EARTH GIVES US….’ “
That actually comes from James Russell Lovell’s 1848 poem titled The Vision of Sir Launfal. One version of The Prelude to Part First actually says:
“Earth gets its price for what Earth gives us;
The beggar is taxed for a corner to die in,
The priest hath his fee who comes and shrives us,
We bargain for the graves we lie in;
At the Devil’s booth are all things sold
Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold;
For a cap and bells our lives we pay,
Bubbles we earn with a whole soul’s tasking:
‘T is heaven alone that is given away,
‘T is only God may be had for the asking;
There is no price set on the lavish summer,
And June may be had by the poorest comer.”
But you said FROM rather than FOR. Then you pontificated about equity and equality.
And later you listed another two lines with mixed up LIE and DIE (and omitted another line in between):
“A BEGGER IS TAXED FOR A CORNER TO LIE IN
WE BARGAIN FOR THE GRAVES WE DIE IN”
But you got the following pair of lines almost correct:
“AT THE DEVIL’S BOOTH ARE ALL THINGS SOLD
EACH OUNCE OF DROST COSTS ITS OUNCE OF GOLD”
And finally you got around to misquoting about bubbles, missed a line, but at least mentioned the author’s name:
“ ‘BUBBLES WE BUY FOR A WHOLE SOULS ASKING
TIS HEAVEN ALONE THAT CAN BE HAD FOR THE ASKING’ James Russell Lowell”
Aargh!