Want ‘Hope and Change’? Buy a Goat
As an old joke suggests, inviting socialism into our homes might help us better appreciate the blessings of freedom.
Like most other immigrants in America, I had discovered a treasure trove of opportunities and was able to provide a comfortable living for my family. I wasn’t rich — but every time I would get into my GM car, turn on my HP computer, or watch a DVD from Netflix, I would give thanks for the perks that only an affluent capitalist society could provide. I didn’t want any change — except, perhaps, towards fewer government regulations.
But Obama managed to convince millions of Americans that they were so destitute and helpless that only a system of government rationing could save them from imminent starvation and homelessness. All of a sudden, previously self-reliant Americans found themselves in the position of neutered house pets, meowing and howling at the prospect of not getting their guaranteed three meals a day.
Opponents of capitalism will tell you that market demand is created, not by necessity, but by sneaky marketing campaigns that generate a false perception of necessity. The same experts have now implemented this perverted theory by running a multimillion-dollar, Madison-Avenue-style marketing campaign, whose goal was to sell to the generally well-off Americans the notion that they were living in misery, poverty, and hopelessness — thus creating a false perception of a need for change.
And change is materializing fast. Every time the new president opens his mouth, the market plunges. The banking crisis, which Obama used to get in power, was nothing compared to the post-election economic meltdown. On February 10 alone, after Treasury Secretary Geithner proposed a new economic rescue plan, the Dow lost 5% of its value. The unemployment is soaring while consumer confidence is sinking. Obama’s aggressive marketing of perceived mass poverty became a self-fulfilling prophecy. As the shadow of the New Deal is darkening the horizon and the heavy steps of the approaching depression are sending tremors throughout the world, the appeal of Obama’s plan is no longer in the eyes of the beholder.
This is where the goat comes in (in case you’re still wondering about the title). Consider this old Jewish joke I heard back in Ukraine:
A man comes to the rabbi and complains about his life:
“I have almost no money, my wife is a shrew, and we live in a small apartment with seven unruly kids. It’s messy, it’s noisy, it’s smelly, and I don’t want to live.”
The rabbi says, “Buy a goat.”
“What? I just told you there’s hardly room for nine people, and it’s messy as it is!”
“Look, you came for advice, so I’m giving you advice. Buy a goat and come back in a month.”
In a month the man comes back and he is even more depressed:
“It’s gotten worse! The filthy goat breaks everything, and it stinks and makes more noise than my wife and seven kids! What should I do?”
The rabbi says, “Sell the goat.”
A few days later the man returns to the rabbi, beaming with happiness:
“Life is wonderful! We enjoy every minute of it now that there’s no goat — only the nine of us. The kids are well-behaved, the wife is agreeable — and we even have some money!”
Obama’s “change” is precisely the goat that Americans bought when they lost the appreciation of how good they had it. But the perception of misery is not set in stone; this self-inflicted disaster may as well serve as a remedy — an unpleasant but necessary shock therapy helping the misguided voters come to their senses and begin to appreciate what they had lost. And once they get rid of the socialist goat, they will hopefully regain confidence in their own system and continue to enjoy liberty and prosperity as they always did — with the head held high and without the silliness of feeling guilty about it.
The trick is not to let the goat grow on you. Don’t settle for socialism. Capitalism may be a self-regulating system, but it won’t be able to heal itself if the socialization goes too far. Then it would be a whole different goat story.
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Oleg Atbashian, a writer and graphic artist from Ukraine, currently lives in New York. He is the creator of ThePeoplesCube.com, a satirical website where he writes under the name of Red Square.
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24 Comments
1. one of your own:It’s not the goat that’s been growing on us. It’s the elephant that’s been sitting on us. Your bleak outlook is a testament to the Soviet grey you can’t leave behind. Open BOTH of your swollen eyes and you will see the dissolution of soft tyranny. As Kaiser Soze said, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” I fear you’ve been convinced over the last eight years. Others of us saw the devil for he he was and shed him. But don’t despair, you weren’t entirely wrong . . . “(Americans) sounded like ignorant, spoiled brats who hated their rich parents for giving them the car of the wrong color.”
indeed.
Feb 17, 2009 - 10:53 pm 2. ic:Hope for the chump change that the magnanimous One would let us keep after he has done stimulating his and his cronies’ pockets with our tax dollars.
Feb 17, 2009 - 11:26 pm 3. JB:Oleg,
Feb 17, 2009 - 11:36 pm 4. Ed Wallis:You are right. Bad analogy by “one of”. There has been no elephant sitting on us — that’s not a Republican style. S(he) might have called it Republican “neglect” — that would be more accurate. But then it would also mean that the national government must be involved in saving everyone. State and local governments? Shouldn’t they have been doing that? Isn’t that why they collect taxes? Bottom line: Americans like “one of” feel with certainty that their national government must take care of them. Sort of a permanent in loco parentis.
FROM: http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/
“We must not revert to isolationism and unrestrained economic egotism… Excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence is another possible mistake. True, the state’s increased role in times of crisis is a natural reaction to market setbacks. Instead of streamlining market mechanisms, some are tempted to expand state economic intervention to the greatest possible extent… In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”
– Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin
Opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
January 28, 2009
(SEE ALSO: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123317069332125243.html?mod=googlenews_wsj)
This is really pathetic. Even Russian President Vlad Putin is warning the US against socialism.
“One of your own”, if you really believe you have been such a “victim” for the last 8 years, you have only confirmed yourself to be one of those “ignorant, spoiled brats.”
Feb 18, 2009 - 2:15 am 5. Paul Gross:“One of your own” is a fraud. He/she is more likely a product of our wonderful educational system steeped in the new speak philosphy that America is really a capitalist monster that sits on the weak and down trodden. Logic and critical thinking are no longer taught in the ivy covered walls; thus the “soft tyranny” that actually is the product of the socialism pushed by the new administration, not the last.
Feb 18, 2009 - 5:53 am 6. Anne123:Oleg is right – Americans do not have any idea how bad the rest of the world has it – When I was in Eastern Europe a few years ago, the people had no water for most of the day. They had to save water in their bath tubs. There was low unemployment in the Bush years and he kept us safe. Viva Bush!!! I wish there were 8 more years for him. – “one of your own” – go suck an egg.
Feb 18, 2009 - 7:53 am 7. BackwardsBoy:I sincerely hope that Oleg is right in that we must experience the pain of failed socialist policies before we appreciate the freedom we once had.
Feb 18, 2009 - 8:11 am 8. David S:Nice story, but it sounded to me like Bush was the goat.
Peace.
DS
Feb 18, 2009 - 8:28 am 9. one of your own:#4. Ed . . . #5 Paul . . . Who’s the victim now? You’ve both been so slathered with “Freedom is on the march” and flagpins and yellow ribbons that you have lost touch with reality. Your thinking is nothing more than the recitation of Rupert Murdoch’s self-professed gaol of “getting Republicans elected.” You’re so quick to slam higher eduction but you can’t pry your eyes away from the flat screen long enough to think an original thought. You’re like geese being stuffed to make pate. Gross indeed.
You think you have a god-given right to drive a Crown Vic and eat at Outback every night and troll for internet porn. Well guess what, it’s not a right. Can you do it if you want to? Sure,go ahead. But that’s all you deserve is the choice. And if you choose to spend $200 a week on gas and cram your arteries with steak sauce and lose your wife and family to infidelity, so be it. Your choice. But you see, others of us make choices, too. And right now one of us is in the White House, and he’s making choices that the majority of Americans agree with. So sit down, shut the F up, and watch America’s Biggest Loser. you need a new role model after the last eight years.
How’s that for some self-serving lunatic ramblings, eh? What, you think you clowns have cornered the market?
Feb 18, 2009 - 9:04 am 10. Steve P.:David S. couldn’t be more right. The Bush I and Reagan presidencies created more wealthy people but in the process killed the middle class. Under Clinton, the middle class rebounded and finally had some money to burn. They then elected Bush because he promised that he would keep taxes low and let the middle class keep the money it amassed under Clinton. They didn’t realize how good they had it with Clinton. Eight years later, the middle class is screwed again, just as it was under Reagan and Bush I. It’s pretty plain to see who the goat is here.
Feb 18, 2009 - 9:10 am 11. Trish:I have to agree with most of Oleg’s assessment. But the thing I find most worrisome of all is that you can warn people of impending Socialism all day long, but there are many, many Americans that actually embrace the idea. That’s nearly impossible for me to wrap my head around, but unfortunately it appears to be true.
They’ve (mostly our young people) have bought into the “Capitalism is Evil” propaganda and not only welcome Socialism with open arms, they’re running straight towards it with visions of El Che tshirts, trendy neighborhood vegetable co-ops and open source software dancing in their heads. And while it’s easy to point fingers at our new politically vocal, yet naive, youth, we must take acknowledge the atmosphere that the older generations have created to foster such attitudes.
We need to stop looking for a Messiah to solve all our problems and take some personal responsibility (gasp!) for the state of our country. This attitude that ‘American = Easy & Pain Free Prosperity’ is bullshit. Bail outs are bullshit. We need to suck it up, hold ourselves and our elected officials accountable and work together to fix what we broke. But we’re exceedingly lazy and I fear things will get far worse before we get off our asses and actually do anything about it.
Feb 18, 2009 - 10:26 am 12. Cybergeezer:In the Obama Party (The new religious and political party for the Obama worshipers), the goat is their symbol.
Feb 18, 2009 - 11:48 am 13. AWOL Civilization:Good article, Oleg. “Neutered house pet”–LOL! Unfortunately, though, that is what a huge slice of the population has become.
Here’s my projection of where things will be three years from now:
http://awolcivilization.com/?p=720
Feb 18, 2009 - 1:42 pm 14. Steve P.:Trish says:They’ve (mostly our young people) have bought into the “Capitalism is Evil” propaganda and not only welcome Socialism with open arms, they’re running straight towards it with visions of El Che tshirts, trendy neighborhood vegetable co-ops and open source software dancing in their heads.
Trish, it’s the elder generations that got us into this mess. It’s youth that’s going to have to foot the bill for the your screw ups. We’re the ones who are going to create the medical miracles that keep you fogies alive a few years longer. We’re the ones who are going to be eating fresh “co-op” vegetables while you oldies get cancer from your own tainted food products. We’re the ones who are going to create the new technologies that will create new jobs and new American products to export, even if you can’t figure out how to operate them. Instead of being freaked out by us kids, and screaming about socialism, why don’t you just get out of our way and let us clean up the big mess you’ve made? We’re pretty sick and tired of it. Thanks.
Feb 18, 2009 - 1:52 pm 15. Red Square:# 14. Steve P. -
You’ve made a very indicative statement. But if you think you’re going into the future with it, you’re wrong. It belongs in the past – about 100 years into the past.
That’s exactly what the starry-eyed romantics were saying, singing, and writing poems about in 1917 after the Russian Revolution. Later in their lives, their idealistic grand visions that were not based on the reality of human nature, brought them either to alcoholism, or to the gulag, or to the positions of gulag supervisors. Case in point – Vladimir Mayakovsky, one of my favorite poets, who unfortunately fell in love with communism and wrote hymns to it. By 1930 he opened his eyes to reality and shot himself (although the rumor still lives that he was murdered by Stalin’s henchmen because he showed signs of disillusionment).
At that time, American romantic, starry-eyed revolutionaries visited that “dream come true” land – and wrote articles titled “I have seen the future and it works!” But they only saw what matched their fantasies and discarded the rest.
They thought they were cleverly defying the “conservative old fogies” at home – but in fact they were whitewashing a tyranny, legitimizing theft, insulting the suffering of millions of people, and dancing on the graves of the gulag victims.
The link between good intentions and hell has already been scientifically established. Do you need an official General Surgeon’s warning on it so you can stop being so reckless?
Feb 18, 2009 - 2:27 pm 16. Oscar the Grump:Steven P
Feb 18, 2009 - 5:04 pm 17. Marc Malone:David S has never been right on anything. You talk grandly, I’ve worked for what I have and worked hard. Your new utopia is not going to work.
Your messiah is robbing Peter to pay Paul. When that won’t work anymore, he’ll just print more money. That’s called inflation. Please take your academic ass to a class in economics and learn something. Find out how this economy works then lecture us.
Steve P and David S both espouse the same, old, Marxist claptrap. They also, not coincidentally, espouse the same contempt for religion. Good little Komrades, both.
Feb 18, 2009 - 9:29 pm 18. bobby b:“Instead of being freaked out by us kids, and screaming about socialism, why don’t you just get out of our way and let us clean up the big mess you’ve made?”
– - – - – -
Do a few things – make a few decisions – exercise some superior judgment – adhere to a stronger, cleaner, more life-serving morality – and do this while being a net gain to the daily needs of humanity for food and water and shelter and power – and you might get some reaction other than “yeah, if your video game ever breaks, maybe you WILL turn out to have abilities and characteristics that we can admire.
But aside from making loud noises about what you’re owed, or about what you would rather we did to serve your desires, your ilk hasn’t been all that impressive. Aren’t you the guys still trying to force us to stop arguing with your “consensus” of concerned marketers?
Feb 18, 2009 - 10:13 pm 19. David S:@16. Oscar the Grump:
Well, I can’t say I agree with this sentiment…
(I love you, too, Oscar.)
Are you really sure you want a lecture on how the economy works? It might be painful to your preconceptions…
Peace.
DS
Feb 18, 2009 - 11:14 pm 20. Gene Lalor:Hope? Or Despair?
Holder Takes the Gloves Off and Calls Americans “Cowards”
Eric Holder, America’s new Attorney General, may prove to be the worst political pick since Caligula designated his horse, Incitatus, a Roman senator. The chief difference is that Caligula’s horse had far more class.
Disgraced Governor Rod Blagojevich’s choice to fill Barack Obama’s Illinois senate seat, Roland Burris, merits consideration as the supreme loser as well. Seems ol’ Roland had such contempt for the United States Senate that he thought nothing of perjuring himself to secure it.
Then, again, having contempt for the American people, as Eric Holder does, has to take precedence over contempt for the Senate so Holder should still get the prize and Burris should be designated as runner-up.
Speaking to a Justice Department group observing Black History Month, the new AG said, “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards:” http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D96E53483&show_article=1.
Confirmed 75-21 by an obsequious United States Senate, Holder went on to say that, “the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.”
If my take is correct, the new AG feels that government dictates concerning whom companies employ is woefully inadequate. Holder is suggesting that people should be invited to golf outings, family bbq’s, christenings, and graduations simply because they are people, regardless of whether we would appreciate their presence.
Now isn’t that just special! Barely two weeks in office,…
(Read the rest of this article at http://genelalor.com/.)
Feb 19, 2009 - 12:47 am 21. karen:Seeing the hammer and sickle in the mirror? Yesterday I met our son’s college adviser who was wearing a bright red tie with logos of – you got it, the hammer and sickle.
Feb 19, 2009 - 6:35 am 22. Tennessee Volunteer:One of your own.. I make it a practice to not to respond to individual posters but here is my exception for 2009.
Feb 20, 2009 - 5:00 am 23. Oldguy:As a 56 yr. old fogey, I would respectfully ask you to do the following:
- print out your email and place it in a folder to open in 2030
- raise your family
- start a business with your employees families as one of your responsibiities
- bury your Mom and Dad or people that you love and will miss
- Read Atlas Shrugged
- open this folder and read your petty, non informed rantings from a different time
- GET RID OF THE GOAT!
- get on your knees to thank god for all of the quiet giants who kept the fire alivefor you to live in this wonderful, imperfect country called America
The economy seems to be saying to every one of us in America that until we get rid of Obama and the Democrats, there will be no recovery.
Feb 20, 2009 - 7:48 am 24. Cybergeezer:People are voting with their money.
Obamafia taking over.
Feb 20, 2009 - 10:02 am