Saturday, July 10, 2010

An Old Teacher Talks About Art, School, and Economics

By Douglas V. Gibbs

He owns a fairly large home in the hills of the Inland Empire. His balcony overlooks a lake, and his bedroom overlooks the entire L.A. Basin. Next to his massive home is a grouping of guest houses, and the stables. On the corner of the roads that lead to his property is his arena. He is planning on holding carriage races, and he needed sand to be spread throughout the arena.

After I delivered his sand the man commented that I looked familiar. After speaking with him it turned out he had been the art teacher at the high school I graduated from for 40 years. I never took his classes, but he remembered me because of my letterman's jacket. On the backside of my jacket was a descending dove, and the words "Runner for Christ."

His wealthy lifestyle was paid for by his retirement from the taxpayer funded teaching profession he spent his life a part of.

We spoke about college, and how everyone assumed I would go to whatever university I desired. I explained that I took a different path, but I felt I was the better person for it. Rather than submit myself to the rigors of the tainted education system, I pursued the rigors of life through experiences, and self-education. In the end, since I experienced the storms of life directly that I may not have experienced otherwise, the person I became is not the someone else I would have become should I have allowed myself to be molded by "the state."

The retired teacher then asked me, after we talked about my political writings, about my opinion of the current economic situation.

"It is quite simple," I told him. "Whenever government spends money it creates nothing. It only moves money around, taking it from one group and giving it to another. Economies depend on growth, or more specifically, the creation of wealth by the private sector. Government does not create wealth.

"Money exists only when it is supported with value. When government creates money without the accompaniment of value, the money is fiat money - money of no worth. This creates a deflation of the value of money, and inflation in the economy.

"In other words, the spending by the Obama Administration, and the heavy regulations and taxes on the private sector, is killing growth, and stagnating our economy. Not only is our system not growing, under the onslaught of government control businesses are either going under, are moving out of the country, or are being absorbed by the government.

"The question regarding the reasons the Democrats would do such a thing is simple. Liberalism, leftism, whatever you want to call it, has the same roots as fascism, socialism and communism. The goal is to create a Utopian society that does not depend on profit, achievement or growth. In the perfect society, according to these people, we all work together like worker bees, because we should for the sake of society. In the process, achievement and wealth is lost, tossed aside for it would no longer be needed.

"Humanity, or course, with our human nature, would never allow Utopianism, and in truth such a society would not be able to rise, or last for very long. But, the Utopians believe it can be achieved, but that to reach such a system all free market systems must be destroyed, and the people must be forced into socialistic models. This, I believe, are the ultimate plans of the hard-left Democrats. I am not talking about the mindless sheep that follow the madness, mind you, but the players like Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid. They, however, have underestimated the American People, and though their goal of destroying the American form of government, and replacing it with something sinister, and liberty-killing, seems to be reachable, in the end, liberty will rise up, and the American People will put a stop to this madness. We must, otherwise, it would spell the end of America, and the world as we know it. If we don't stop this socialistic madness, a new dark age will commence, with the barbarians of Islam ruling much of the land until revolution again gives rise to a constitutional republic like America."

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

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