The Ten Cannots vs "We Can!"

The Ten Cannots

1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

2. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

3. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.

4. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

5. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.

6. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

7. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

8. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

9. You cannot establish security on borrowed money.

10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

- William J. H. Boetcker, a minister, and outspoken advocate for liberty (1916)

Reverend Boetcker would be reviled and ridiculed by the Left today for merely listing these ten common sense observations about life. And were he to dare mention their basis in Scripture, the howl would be deafening.

The older I get, the better I understand that men will eternally argue the same questions year after year, decade and decade, even century after century. Solomon may have been speaking from ennui when he declared there was nothing new under the sun, but he pretty much described the human condition in those five words.

On Tuesday, our country may elect a man to the presidency who vehemently disagrees with each of these statements. And once again, the old lessons would be learned the hard way as he and his Leftist companions in the Congress ignore the past and forge ahead to "Change", taking our country in a "new" old direction that has failed over and over again.

Mark Alexander of the Patriot Post shared this story.

'I was speaking with a friend recently, a man who lived most of his life under the Communist regime in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. He has spent several years and continues to incur many legal expenses in his endeavor to become a U.S. citizen, but he has since lost his enthusiasm.

“The prospect of an Obama presidency is like dèja vu for me,” he explained. “The socialist goal back home was that everyone had equal wealth. They met that goal—eventually no one had anything. Any attempt to work harder to achieve a better standard of living for your family was considered contrary to the welfare of the state, and dutifully discouraged. Socialism is a big hole, easy to fall into and hard to climb out of.”

He lamented, “The American dream is not something I want to wake up from—but too many Americans have no idea what they have, and are about to lose it. Socialism seems an appealing ideal, collective ownership, equal society, ‘sharing the wealth,’ et cetera. But it has a downside: It doesn’t work.”