Now that I’ve hiked my pants well above my waist and yelled at those darned kids to stay off my lawn it’s time to do some serious kvetching.

It used to be there would be a winner and a loser (or several losers).  That’s how life worked.

Now society has decided that’s too harsh.  It coddles and issues participation ribbons.

What kind of life lesson is that?

Call it tough love.  Call it an emphasis on self-responsibility.  Give it whatever name you wish.  We simply need to end the backstopping and hand holding.  It perverts the learning process and undermines the formation of character.

It’s a slippery slope.  Once we act to save people from themselves we create an expectation.

People must stop relying on government.  People must not rely on the bank of mom and dad.  People must choose to be self-responsible and prepare/provide for life’s uncertainties.  If they choose not to they must not be rewarded with stimulus checks, unending unemployment benefits, etc.

Society cannot privatize benefits and socialize losses forever.  As Margaret Thatcher once said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”  When that happens we strikers will have long abandoned society in favor of a life in Galt’s Gulch.