Distressingly, the Laura Ingalls Wilder books were ghostwritten/cowritten without credit by her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, who was a rabid libertarian and as important to the founding of that movement as Ayn Rand, and who absolutely shaped the books to not include any government assistance, which completely happened. Blind sister for instance spent 8 years at a federally funded school for the blind, the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School.
I've been troubled by the extreme individualism you're pointing out, but have lately focused on the other end: not the blame placed on the poor and starving for not working hard enough, but the assumption that the wealthy are also only responding to external incentives, which not only gives maximizing wealth moral weight (I made money, so I must have been right) but is a very strange and evil view of humanity.
What I mean is that it will never serve my personal financial interest to protect the poor rather than to protect the rich; I will get promoted for running my employees into the ground because it will mean I'm a miracle worker who "improved efficiency." Sure, in the long run, that's going to tank the company, but who cares? By then I've got mine and moved on.
But I also mean that I'm terribly offended by all the media coverage that assumes what I care about in the government shutdown is art museums being closed rather than babies and crippled old people starving to death. Because, I mean, I go to art museums, so that must be more important to me, right? I couldn't possibly be upset that people are being hurt who aren't me.
I don't actually have a Representative in the House right now; I'm in the 5th district of Massachusetts, and our Representative was Ed Markey, who we just jumped up to Senator (because we needed to fill John Kerry's seat when he was jumped up to Secretary of State. And we'd just had the Senatorial election to get Elizabeth Warren. The past year has been nothing but gaps in having representation for people who live at my address. Almost any issue where it's like "write your congressperson!" I've had to go "well, can't right now actually.") Democratic primary is next week.
In all the campaign ads - and all the campaign ads for the Senate races before - it's been "I'll fight for the middle class." I am tired as hell of hearing about the middle class. I do ok, you know? Not great, but ok. Nobody and I mean nobody is saying "vote for me and I'll take care of the poor." It's making me mad as hell. Yes, it would be great if women made the same amount of money as men; as a woman I love that. Yes, I support gay rights and am a member of the gay community. But is that as urgent as making sure food stamps go out in time, or that undocumented immigrants are legalized as soon as possible so that they aren't treated as literal slaves in fear of their lives? Hell no.
I am tired of people thinking that the way to get my vote is to bribe me by making my life better, or by telling me that I am better and more deserving, rather than by promising me the government will take care of the tens of thousands of people who are drowning with no way out.
And almost all of these people claim to be Christians. That hurts me a lot.
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-10 04:54 am (UTC)I've been troubled by the extreme individualism you're pointing out, but have lately focused on the other end: not the blame placed on the poor and starving for not working hard enough, but the assumption that the wealthy are also only responding to external incentives, which not only gives maximizing wealth moral weight (I made money, so I must have been right) but is a very strange and evil view of humanity.
What I mean is that it will never serve my personal financial interest to protect the poor rather than to protect the rich; I will get promoted for running my employees into the ground because it will mean I'm a miracle worker who "improved efficiency." Sure, in the long run, that's going to tank the company, but who cares? By then I've got mine and moved on.
But I also mean that I'm terribly offended by all the media coverage that assumes what I care about in the government shutdown is art museums being closed rather than babies and crippled old people starving to death. Because, I mean, I go to art museums, so that must be more important to me, right? I couldn't possibly be upset that people are being hurt who aren't me.
I don't actually have a Representative in the House right now; I'm in the 5th district of Massachusetts, and our Representative was Ed Markey, who we just jumped up to Senator (because we needed to fill John Kerry's seat when he was jumped up to Secretary of State. And we'd just had the Senatorial election to get Elizabeth Warren. The past year has been nothing but gaps in having representation for people who live at my address. Almost any issue where it's like "write your congressperson!" I've had to go "well, can't right now actually.") Democratic primary is next week.
In all the campaign ads - and all the campaign ads for the Senate races before - it's been "I'll fight for the middle class." I am tired as hell of hearing about the middle class. I do ok, you know? Not great, but ok. Nobody and I mean nobody is saying "vote for me and I'll take care of the poor." It's making me mad as hell. Yes, it would be great if women made the same amount of money as men; as a woman I love that. Yes, I support gay rights and am a member of the gay community. But is that as urgent as making sure food stamps go out in time, or that undocumented immigrants are legalized as soon as possible so that they aren't treated as literal slaves in fear of their lives? Hell no.
I am tired of people thinking that the way to get my vote is to bribe me by making my life better, or by telling me that I am better and more deserving, rather than by promising me the government will take care of the tens of thousands of people who are drowning with no way out.
And almost all of these people claim to be Christians. That hurts me a lot.