The Survival Mentality

“Either man must be content with poverty all his life or
else be willing to deny himself some luxuries, and save, to make the base of
independence in the future. But if a man denies the future, and spends as he
earns (whether his earning be one or ten dollars a day) let him look for lean
and hungry want at some future time, for it will surely come, no matter what he
thinks. To save is absolutely the only way to get a solid fortune; there is no
other mode. Those who shut their eyes and ears to these plain facts, will be
forever poor, and for their obstinate rejection of truth mayhap may die in
misery. Let them so die and hang themselves. But no. They take a sort of
recompense in cursing fortune. Great waste of breath. They might as well curse
the mountains and the eternal hills. For I can tell them fortune does not give
away real substantial goods. She sells them to the highest bidder. Men never
make so fatal a mistake as when they think themselves captives of fate–’tis the
sheerest folly in the world. Every man may make or mar his life, whichever he
may choose. Fortune is for those who by diligence, honesty and frugality place
themselves in a position to grasp hold of fortune when it appears in view. The
best evidence of frugality is the five hundred dollars or more standing in your
name at the saving bank. The best evidence of honesty is both diligence and
frugality.”

The above words were printed one hundred years ago, on May
13, 1877 in THE HUMBOLDT TIMES. At that time Humboldt County was a vital and
developing sector of Northern California. In those days, especially in the
western states, America was still a young and vigorous nation, peopled by
energetic, practical men and women. They lived by the tenet, “If you need a
helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of your arm.”

Neighborly sharing and cooperation were valued and necessary,
but an individual’s prime responsibility was to be self-reliant and productive.
In that way he became an asset to the community and earned respect. People were
held to be responsible for their own futures. Thus, a truly progressive society
was built, morally and materially.

Today, however, Humboldt County has become modernized. The
area now swarms with welfare recipients and the county is dependent on
continuous Federal funding to avoid depression conditions. And so goes the rest
of the nation.

Today, any local newspaper bold enough to print an editorial
like “Saving and Having” would be deluged by indignant letters from
Liberals and welfare recipients alike.

Our present welfare-oriented society confuses degeneration
with progress. We are told that the idea that everyone should pay his own way is
both archaic and heartless. That those who produce should be forced to guarantee
the futures and opportunities of those who neglect to plan and provide for
themselves properly, and we support the vast and ever-growing sub-culture of the
parasitic Welfare Class.

Indeed, the Welfare Class has become a major power block in
America and its members are self-righteous and assertive in demanding a better
and more bountiful standard of living. It is provided, of course, by forcing
those who do produce to support them by ever-increasing taxes.

A century ago it was no fun to be a freeloader and all but
impossible to survive as one. Unheard of were the Federally funded programs to
take the misery out of poverty and to support able bodied welfare leeches. Those
who would not, or could not, produce, simply did not survive to demand a free
ride from productive citizens. If a citizen was dissatisfied with his standard
of living, there was every incentive to better himself by saving or learning a
useful trade needed in the community. He knew that if he didn’t care about
himself, nobody else would.

In contrast are the arrogant welfare lice today, backed by
the Liberal creed and a sense of deserving. It interests me sometimes to hear
what some of these pathetic parasites have to say about life and the world. And
so I found myself talking to a typical welfare brood sow who was “on the
county” as she put it.

Well over 200 pounds of bloated pork, this able-bodied young
woman was a second generation welfare case. She wore a garishly colored
tent-like garment and her hair was frizzed out, looking like a used Brillo pad.
Between sentences, she stuffed her mouth with potato chips from a large box at
her side. In one hand was a king-sized beer. From the next room come the
foul-mouthed cacophony of her two whelps at play, undernourished, in contrast to
their gross mother.

“It’s a rotten life and a stinking society,” she
asserted.

“Oh,” I said, “And what’s stinking about
it?”

“Well, if you was on Welfare, you’d know how it is to be
poor,” she accused. “On the first and fifteenth of the month I get my
checks and I can have a good time and live right for a couple of days. But after
the party’s over and the money’s spent, all’s I got is my Food Stamps.”

“All you can get with them is grub, and I’m on a diet.
So I have to sell them so I can get cigarettes and beer to last me. But I think
I’m pregnant and at least that’ll mean a raise. At least Medi-Cal pays my
medical bills and I live in Government housing. But Hell, you can’t spend that.
I want to live decent; at least they owe me that much!”

When I suggested that perhaps she could get a job and get out
of the Welfare rut, and perhaps ask the father of her kids to help with their
support, she exploded with indignation.

“If I got a job they’d cut back on my Welfare and I’d be
no better than a nine-to-five chump and be working my tail off for $2.50 an
hour. If you’d ever been on the County yourself, you’d be smart enough to know
that.”

“And if I had some pair of pants supporting me and my
kids, they’d cut me clean off Welfare. What do you think, I’m stupid?”

I asked her if she didn’t feel ashamed that a lot of people
do work at low income jobs and get no Food Stamps or Medi-Cal, who have to pay
taxes so that she could get Welfare while refusing to work.

“That’s their problem,” she snorted. “I have
my own life to live. And don’t give me any of that work ethic jive. That went
out with high button shoes.”

Indeed it did. And that is why today’s society is saddled
with a vast herd of worthless human baggage who would never have survived a
century ago, amid the vigorous, survival-oriented communities of our
grandfathers. People who looked to their own ingenuity to cope with disaster,
not dependent on giveaway programs to survive.

Yet, nature has a way of cleaning itself. And when our highly
technological society collapses due to its incompatibility with the laws of
nature, the gravy train will grind to a halt. Then the Welfare masses will
simply starve. Also decimated will be the ranks of the unprepared, geared only
for survival in the present artificial environment of our cities. Technology
will then revert to that of the 19th Century. Morality must likewise follow.

Survival will be the province of those who, like the
clear-thinking and productive men and women, once built functioning, bountiful
communities many years ago. They had the wisdom to realize that there can be no
permanent place for parasites.

Toy Making For Profit And Skill Development