RW email I received today. How would you answer?

This is probably the five best sentences you'll ever read. This is one paragraph that should be in every book in every school room in every city in every state in our great Union . Our educators should make a lesson plan on this one statement, for every class in every state in these United States of America . And, every elected official should commit it to memory and repeat it out loud everyday.

"You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

Adrian Rogers, 1931

I'd just point that out.

...why do you hate Jesus?

read about him here - http://tinyurl.com/noqbch - and realize there is nothing in his background/credentials to give him any kind of authority to speak on matters of government. He was a pastor, fit to tend to his flock.

Proclaiming economic policy was hardly his area of expertise, and, considering that he was born in 1931, I'd venture a wild guess here and chance that your email sender was quoting a sermon.

Yeah, some redneck Baptist pastor preaches a sermon to his sheep and suddenly it's looking like a blueprint for sound economic and social reform.

Give me a break.....................

Taxes are the price we pay for living in a civilized society.

and was reminded. After Tiller was assassinated, we sent a few bucks to his clinic and passed to the Foundation. We got a lovely, personal, handwritten response. Class Act.

The small, mean-minded part of me has to note that Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity still draw breath while Dr. Tiller is dead....

Sieg Heil. And then click your heals.

It's true that you cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. But, first of all, I have NEVER seen the wealthy get poor because they paid a lot of taxes.

And secondly, you give the poor a hand up, not a handout when you help them. Welfare, for instance. It has helped many poor people get out of poverty.

Social security works, as does Medicare. It has not impoverished anyone. Period.

And I have seen zero evidence that people feel they don't have to work since other people are going to support them. That's just ridiculous. We talk about Welfare Queens; they don't exist.

and as high as 90% at one point.

and never have.

Who is he? I see a MegaChurch Southern Evangelical pastor and Southern Baptist Convention leader who was BORN in 1931 and died in 2005. Did he utter these words as he came out of the womb?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Rogers

BTW, Adrian Rogers once responded to a question about New Testament references in support of slavery, by saying, “I believe slavery is a much maligned institution; if we had slavery today, we would not have this welfare mess.”

mutiplying factor of government spending.

And his last sentence is completely wrong, "You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

Why, yes, yes you can, otherwise lending institutions and the stock markets would all be out of business.

Because without calling them free-riders, they don't get to argure for lower taxes not to help. That's why.

So who's the free-rider?

but how about:

Currently production is more then demand, so lowering production by some people doing other things makes sense. When there is more demand then production, it is not race to the bottom, but when their is a guarantee that a large portion will be unemployed by not enough demand, that unbalance means those that are employed will get very little, making many poor, and many really poor.

If their was more demand, then their would be middle class, and poor.

Also if the nation sets protections on imports for nations that do not have the same citizen rights, then it will not be destroyed by cheap imports and 'race to the bottom' competition.

Also the nation is only in trouble if you assume people don't like to work. How many rich people still continue to work? Do they fear starvation or fear not having health care?

The basic argument being made is if you do not make people fear for their lives or face starvation they will not work. That is not true, many people work to be able to buy things, and for the pride of work, and to support families. I would bet 90% of people would work just to be able to buy Christmas and birthday gifts for people. To think people would just not work, is to not compare society in the same way the Republican thinks of himself. He thinks they are lazy.

Go to any business anywhere, how many people want more hours, not for food and health care, but for a car payment, or for an outing or for some other thing. By the logic that people would not work, then anyone making over 80K a year, would decide to only work 1 out of 3 years, and live off of 30K each of those years.

Some will not, but they are necessary because their is more production then demand, and many of them could be writers, painters, musicians, aristocricy, socialites, theologians, volunteers, and scholars. And many that are rich do not work, but they find things to do.

The argument comes down to this. People would not want to 'work' to pay for other peoples food and health that do not work. But they will pay for millions for people at the top that make money off their work? And honestly millionaire writers and many in final sector don't really work. Look at George W Bush's work history.

The real argument is alot of, 'they are all lazy people' Thinking that most people, except themselves of coarse, don't want to work.

Mr. Rogers suffered from having his ideas tried for four long years while Americans lost their homes and stood on bread lines. That's four years of watching everything you worked for taken from you and four years of thinking it would never get any better.

Mr. Rogers was wrong then and he's wrong now and so are you.

I would strongly suggest you turn off that AM radio and start reading history, real history without pictures or what passes for right wing wit.

Also, please stop sending me right wing emails. My email box has a limited capacity and I really don't want it clogged with cant. If you persist in sending me any more of this, I will be forced to put you on block. If you need to contact me, you will have to visit, use the phone, or spend money on a stamp.

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Then hit "send to all."

Then do it. I've only had to block a couple of people over the years and it was only temporary. Most responded very well to potty training.

This is very consistent with conservative ideology. It seems to assume that "hard working" means wealthy, and "poor" means lazy. The problem is, reality is usually the opposite. The hardest working people in our county are mostly people who are just barely getting by financially. Many, though not all, of the wealthiest people are those who inherited money, or invested well. That is not the same as hard work.

with its "tick box yes/no" questions. It gives a whole new meaning to the term, "bipolar disorder". We're talking about the human being here, not a binary code.

The idiot who sells his soul, in order to make a fortune, owes his life to generations of people who sacrificed their lives in wars for future generations. They gave their today for our tomorrow. And they did it without thought for personal gain. GROW UP!

extremely wealthy. Some people are so stupid.

White Collar Welfare. The bank and Wall Street bailout, excessive prices paid to select government contractors, defense contractor costs and over charging for inferior products (I was employed in the defense contracting world and I can tell you stories to curl your hair, i.e., $28 million a year to maintain a handful of government websites-sure they got their monies worth, NOT. The owner of the company has a great yacht and other amazing toys). We have had far too many years of reverse welfare with the poor subsidizing the wealthy.