The Forgotten Man

Cedar Lake, Indiana – Quite often A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall do for D. D is the forgotten man.

We often forget that when we take from Peter to give to Paul, Paul suffers. In France the Supreme Court struck down the attempt to take 75% of the rich’s income through taxing. We may forget that the “1%” are still humans.

Not all men are equal in what they get out of life, but they are also unequal in what they put into it. In the book The Richest Man in Babylon, one chapter mentions that the men who the richest man in the city is attempting to teach how grow their wealth, do nothing, but wish that he would divide his success with them. The rich man had begun in their shoes, but through hard work had succeeded.

Everyone wants to help the poor people who have nothing, but The Forgotten Man is the one who must have some of his money taken from him to give to the others. While there are those that truly cannot prosper because of genuine circumstances that make it difficult for whatever reasons, there are also freeloaders on the system.

When John Smith, arrived in Jamestown in 1607 made a rule “He that does not work does not eat.” There had been those that had been building houses and growing food, while the others lived off of their sweat, thinking they were too good. When John Smith instituted his new rule they suddenly felt motivated to work.

The Forgotten Man is the man that often pays the burden for lazy men. It is easy to say that the poor man should be given a dollar by the millionaire, yet we forget that wage laborer that works for the millionaire loses the dollar; The Forgotten Man.

When a man works he should be rewarded for that. We believe in high grades for students who work hard, and low ones for those that do nothing. There is equal opportunity, but not equal outcome. The American Dream is that if you work hard enough, you can accomplish things. But if we take the dollar from the hand of The Forgotten Man, he cannot invest it, which may have allowed him to build a business, and thus hire the poor beggar, who we all feel so badly for.

There are ways to help the beggar, especially if he is handicapped, but not by forcefully taking the money from the millionaire. And if we still want to take the dollar from the millionaire, let us not forget The Forgotten Man.

 

Andrew C. Abbott