THE CONSERVATIVE VIEW
BY RUSSELL TURNER
CHILD LOGIC AND COFFEE
For many years I have written this weekly column. It is strange that a simple word or sentence can inspire me to write a column. A few days ago my wife read a message on Facebook that was humorous, but when I looked at it there was a lot of common sense about what is ailing our nation today.
A few days ago a relative of mine took two of her children to the mall. Her daughter asked her older brother if he would like to have a coffee at Starbucks. Her brother responded saying sis, their coffee is so overrated and too high! Needless to say, that ended any prospect of the older brother buying his sister a Starbucks cup of coffee. After the mother completed her errands and they were about to leave the store, she turned to the kids and asked if they would like to have a Starbucks coffee and she said that she would buy. Immediately both of her children said yes. The mother turned to her son and he responded that the coffee was too expensive for him to buy, but not for her.
The story I just told was amusing, but one thing about this story - it was the reaction of children concerning the high price of coffee. Today we have a host of presidential candidates that are doing their best to cultivate that same kind of mentality in adults who should know better. When I was growing up, I was taught to save my money and use it to buy the things that I needed. I can remember going to Wal-Mart with a few dollars in my pocket and looking at the items in the sporting goods department; while those things may have given me pleasure for a time, I reminded myself of the hard work it took to acquire those few dollars. Most of the time I decided that I would save the money for the things I needed instead of the things I wanted. Today we see the likes of Corey Booker and Elizabeth Warren promising to take more of people's money to give to someone else. Whenever you make a habit of doling out money to someone without them working for it they never learn the value of money. A free college education is one of the many things that Booker and Warren are promising for free. When I was attending higher education I did not rely upon money confiscated from someone else for me to attend; my parents helped me and I used the money I saved from working various jobs. I was investing in myself and it gave me the incentive to make the effort to succeed. With all of the free stuff that these charlatans are offering there would be no incentive for our citizens to do anything. Like the young man I mentioned earlier, too many people in our country would acquire a taste for expensive coffee if someone else is paying for it.
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