ZombieHorde (1000+ posts) Mon May-11-09 01:07 PM
Original message
The "Should Sally have to share her 'A' she worked so hard for in school" fallacy.
There is a popular conservative fable which concerns a student, who I am naming Sally for this thread, who works very hard in school and receives an 'A'. The question is then asked, should Sally take a lower grade and give one of her lazy friends a higher grade in the name of fairness. Socialism answers 'yes', while conservatism answers 'no'.
Conservatives compare the student to the hard working business person, who I am naming Kim for this thread, who works very hard and receives lots of money.
I personally believe this analogy to be false.
Reason I
Sally's 'A' comes from the teacher and is generally a measurement of the knowledge she gained from the class. If Sally takes a 'B' and gives her lazy friend a higher letter grade, her friend has not actually gained any additional knowledge.
Kim's money comes from the people. She makes a good or service, hires people to make this good or to perform this service, people spend their money on this good or service, Kim receives money, Kim's employees receive money, the employees spend their money. To me, this is very similar to the rain cycle; water evaporates into the clouds, and clouds get heavy with moisture and rain, the rain pools on the ground, the water on the ground evaporates. Capitalism is a cycle.
Sally can get her 'A' without her lazy friends, but Kim can not get her money without the people.
Reason II
Kim will still be rich after paying her taxes while Sally will loose her 'A'.
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I am feeling pretty groggy, I hope my post makes sense.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5633288
They keep trying to prove this analogy wrong, and they just never can.
Let us explain it to you again, DUmmies.
If Sally takes a 'B' and gives her lazy friend a higher letter grade, her friend has not actually gained any additional knowledge.
That's right, she gained a grade she didn't earn
In the same manner, Sally's friend would have gained money she didn't really earn, it was taken from one (the money being confiscated by taxes) who did earn it and given to another (the confiscated money taken from Sally and given to her friend) who did not earn it.
It's got nothing to do with "can not get her money without the people" or who's still rich afterwards. It has everything to do with gov't taking from the one who earned it and giving it to the one who didn't.
Now, go back to sleep, idiots.
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