Ask any preschool teacher. Watch any episode of “Supernanny.” How do you elicit good behavior? You reward it.
Bad behavior – breaking the rules, throwing tantrums, etc. – is reduced through time outs, withdrawal of privileges, or other punishment.
Yes, if you want more of any human behavior – regardless of the person’s age – the way to achieve that is to reward the good behavior. Harsh consequences for unacceptable conduct tend to diminish or eliminate repetition.
Which leads me to the “progressive” vision for America. Have you noticed how much of their approach consists of handing out rewards and/or reducing harsh consequences for less-than-desirable behavior?
Behaviors like shoplifting. Like storming the U.S. borders. Like having multiple babies with no means of support. Like purposefully getting buried in student loan debt. Like shooting heroin and defecating in public.
Sure, let’s have more of all that! And the rest of us can pay for it, our punishment for being good citizens.
This concept of reward and punishment was brought to the attention of Sen. Elizabeth Warren recently when she was confronted on the campaign trail by a father in Iowa. A good, solid citizen who had worked hard and saved money to pay his daughter’s college tuition, this man challenged Warren on her student loan forgiveness plan.
In a now-viral video, you can see him asking the presidential candidate if he would get his money back. Obviously surprised by his audacity, she blurted out, “Of course not!”
He pushed further, commenting, “so you want to help those who don’t save any money, and the ones that do the right thing get screwed?”
Yes indeed, mister, you got that right. (Warren has even said she would cancel student loan debt on her first day in the White House, bypassing Congress if necessary.)
To me, this was Warren’s “Joe the Plumber” moment. For those who have forgotten, Joe was a random guy on the streets of Ohio in 2008, who was approached and confronted by then-candidate Barack Obama, in Joe’s front yard, about small business tax policy.
Cameras filmed Joe saying, “Your tax plan’s going to tax me more.”
Obama did not deny it, and instead responded, “I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”
The comment came back to haunt him many times over the campaign, his remarks quite rightly classified as some sort of socialist wealth redistribution.
Cancelling student loan debt for some people and belittling others who paid their way falls in the same socialist category.
Let’s face it. Most progressive plans are a slap in the face to people who behave responsibly.
Thank you, Iowa dad, for calling attention to a major flaw in Warren’s plans. Bottom line, it takes the money of good people to pay for bad choices made by others.
Diligent, hard-working, freedom-loving citizens among us would get the shaft under any of the Democrats running.
No one knows this better than righteous Californians, who are suffering greatly under an uber-liberal governor.(Yes, you can still sign the petition to recall Gavin Newsom, but the deadline looms in a few days.)
Maybe you, too, can have a “Joe the Plumber”or “Iowa Dad” moment! If you seek such celebrity, the following questions might be worth asking a Democrat candidate in public. Not only those running for president, but also for any federal or state office:
Do you support “Medicare for All”? If so, which individuals would be included in your definition of “all”? Billionaires? Illegal aliens? Pimps? Felons?
Do you think it’s OK for people genetically born male to compete against women in sports?
Do you believe our rights come from government, or do they come from God?
Do you support the right to vote, as Bernie Sanders does, for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and other violent criminals?
If so, on what grounds would you deny them their SECOND Amendment rights?
Are you at all concerned that Hillary Clinton and the DNC paid for the fake Trump/Russia dossier and have yet to be held accountable?
The officially recognized age of adulthood in California is 18. How do you feel about letting 16-year-olds vote?
Where do you stand on reparations for slavery? How would you determine who is actually a descendant of a slave?
Since California is a sanctuary state, do you have a problem with additional thousands of illegal immigrants coming here?
Do you believe in confiscating assault weapons? If so, what is your precise definition of an assault weapon?
What questions do YOU have?
Patricia Suzanne is a professional writer, retired small business owner, and conservative Republican activist. She was born and raised in the once Golden State of California, now a land of despair and disrepair for all but elite leftist Democrats and their cronies.
