| | Here's the longer Jason Lewis quote (too long for the quote gallery, IMO):
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I'm not a big fan of what, for lack of a better description, could be called this 'false altruism' and wearing charity on your sleeve.
A: I think it demeans human dignity (yes, that's what I said) and anybody that says they're doing something for you, or doing something for somebody else, usually, are lying and they're doing it for themselves. I do not like the 'holier than thou', altruistic, "I'm a public servant", "I'm a non-profit". I have never bought into that crap because, fundamentally ... it ... fundamentally ... it rivals human nature. We have a built-in -- in our DNA -- we have a built-in, healthy self-interest.
We were not put on this earth [deliberate cough] as 'sacrificial lambs'. We were put on this earth to produce for ourselves, our families, maybe our community -- if that's what you like -- but you have no moral obligation to support the livelihood of some stranger 2000 miles away across the country because he or she is deserving or even not deserving. I've never bought into that. Call me an Objectivist, call me what you will, I've always had a problem with that.
And I really have a problem when the government does it. Then it just becomes 'theft':
"Well, we've got to take care of people!"
Therefore, they take money from your family and give it to some other family which may or may not be deserving. I don't even like it from the pulpit! When I'm told, in the name of 'social justice' that the Bible demands we sacrifice our lives, we sacrifice our income, we sacrifice everything about our own existence for the sake of another human. You know what I call that? I call that slavery.
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Ed
(Edited by Ed Thompson on 6/22, 10:19pm)
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I've never bought into [sacrifice as the moral ideal]. Call me an Objectivist, call me what you will.
