The Prodigals

[4est_4est_Gump]

They become apt to take because they wish to spend and cannot do this easily; for their possessions soon run short. Thus they are forced to provide means from some other source. At the same time, because they care nothing for honor, they take recklessly and from any source.
Aristotle

"Nice out of context quote, but Aristotle was talking about the Prodigal, not the Liberal."
U_D

"LET us speak next of liberality. It seems to be the mean with regard to wealth; for the liberal man is praised not in respect of military matters, nor of those in respect of which the temrate man is praised, nor of judicial decisions, but with regard to the giving and taking of wealth, and especially in respect of giving. Now by 'wealth' we mean all the things whose value is measured by money. Further, prodigality and meanness are excesses and defects with regard to wealth; and meanness we always impute to those who care more than they ought for wealth, but we sometimes apply the word 'prodigality' in a complex sense; for we call those men prodigals who are incontinent and spend money on self-indulgence. Hence also they are thought the poorest characters; for they combine more vices than one. Therefore the application of the word to them is not its proper use; for a 'prodigal' means a man who has a single evil quality, that of wasting his substance; since a prodigal is one who is being ruined by his own fault, and the wasting of substance is thought to be a sort of ruining of oneself, life being held to depend on possession of substance.

"This, then, is the sense in which we take the word 'prodigality'."
Aristotle

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Then is it in error to use this quote to describe the altruist, the Progressive, the Socialist and the Communist? I do not believe so, it is more than apt. What is the prodigal? The son who takes his inheritance, squanders it in wild living and then returns, destitute to be welcomed by the happy father. Is this not the same as a life of no consequences? Is this not the goal of the Liberal in establishing a welfare state based upon Social Justice? The freedom to live life exactly as one might wish without the consequence of poverty and destitution; to be made whole again? Is it not Aesop's Grasshopper demanding that it is his right to the largess of the ants forward-looking drudgery while he enjoyed the good times? The only difference in the two parallels is the voluntary act of either taking in the Prodigal or refusing the Prodigal contrasted to the Prodigal's claim to a share of community property.

Clearly, we see Aristotle, in this translation, using the word Liberal in a different sense than we use it today. He is speaking of the Philanthropist.

"But he will take from the right sources, e.g. from his own possessions, not as something noble but as a necessity, that he may have something to give."
Aristotle

We speak of the Liberal who has adopted the name, but not the Philosophy. They do not give of their own possession, but take recklessly from any source, like the Prodigal.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Part of the love of the Prodigal can be explored economically, as Bastiat did. The Prodigal, to the Liberal, is a paragon of economic activity spending freely on good food, wine, women, song and the good things of life while his brother who scrimps and saves adds little, in their eyes, to the economic life of the community. However, it is the brother saving, investing and growing his value that comes to the rescue of the prodigal and advances society by loaning his Capital to ventures that will increase the productivity of the workers.

What the Liberal and the Prodigal see is the niggardliness of prudent brother who puts a severely limiting stipend upon the Prodigal, which is detrimental to the economy for the cash flow has been cut to the brewer, barman, maid and entertainer. It is also demeaning to the Prodigal who builds a resentment of his brother, a resentment shared voluntarily by the brother from the honor bonds of familial duty.

In order to spare the Prodigal of this resentment, the Liberal creates Human Rights, Social Justice and a moral code that says it is of the greatest Societal Imperative that the grasshopper be allowed into the ant hill.

"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it."
Frédéric Bastiat

"Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Sometimes the law places the whole apparatus of judges, police, prisons and gendarmes at the service of the plunderers, and treats the victim - when he defends himself - as a criminal.”
Frédéric Bastiat

The Liberals and the Prodigals care little for the virtuous brother, for he his greedy, dull and always at work. Their conceit is that he exists to service their good life, art, theater and good works to the poor. Their life of consequence and righteous morality make the worker and employer lesser humans to be treated as raw material, a mere resource. Should this resource balk, then he is treated to the witch hunt and the cry that he hates the poor, he oppresses the worker and he is anti-Education.

 

[Saint Peter]

There is a huge difference between greedy and hard working.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Thank you for your in-depth and well thought-out reply.



I think it will resound with me for the rest of the day.

 

[Saint Peter]

You are wordy enough for both of us.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

No, I cannot think for myself; I can only c&p from The American Thinker.

 

[Saint Peter]

I cannot think for myself.

I am just the top brick on the slave pyramid.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

You flatter yourself.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

Someone can paste some of this on my face:

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

She should stick those on her chest.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

Maybe glutes are the new bewbs.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

She's made a real ass of herself!



I will not insult it.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

Color-coded charts/visual aids always make things more understandable. Hell, if you use the right colors, you could probably make dog shit look down-right palatable.

Of course, this chart might be from 2010 and glutes have changed since then.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Maybe glut-en free?

 

[Wat_Tyler]

Perish the motherfucking thought!!!

I think there's a Hemi in there somewhere.


Maybe it's just a glint of orange.

 

[RobDownSouth]

No, I cannot think for myself; I can only c&p from The American Thinker.

A rare moment of candid honesty.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

She's PUMPED!

Ees nawt a twoumor...

 

[Wat_Tyler]

Now, burn some rubber . . . .

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

Must have really smarted to be called out for you to start a whole new thread to push this bullshit.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Curvaceous!

 

[Wat_Tyler]

Variation on an avatar:

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Buns 'n Guns!

 

[Wat_Tyler]

As opposed to bewbs-n-gl00ts?

On the other hand, this should be examined for relevance:

Or this - tis the season, after all:

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I do not want to see any more of kbate's home movies...



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