King Of The Hill

Baby boomers probably remember the game, king of the hill. It was played on a pile of dirt and the rules were simple: get to the top by knocking the guy currently on top, off. It taught us competitive skills and perseverance, with the reward of success. Some kids were too small to succeed, true, but as they grew and aspired to win, they held fast to the dream of being the king.

Then something terrible happened. Adults ruined all of the fun by declaring the game too dangerous in light of the skinned knees and crying children, and decreed that fairness by fiat was to be the new rule. Everyone would share in the chance to stand atop the pile of dirt without the perilous contest. Not realizing that the very purpose of the game was removed, the adults could not understand - in their elder-inspired wisdom - why the kids found something else to occupy their time. Not addressed in this formula was the question of who the ultimate arbiter was to be regarding whose turn might be next, which created a ruling class of humans; the adults.

Of course, this is but a crude example as I would not denigrate the necessity of adults being overseers of children, but as we slide further into a future of becoming as children and subsequently wards of the State, we find ourselves surrendering to decisions that - as adults - we are more than capable of making for ourselves but which are increasingly being made by the people we hire to...rule us.

The simple truth is, if there is nothing to work towards, the game is not fun. Winning is what makes the game, no matter how the left tries to equalize virtually every aspect of life in the misguided endeavor of achieving "fairness". While the removal of conflict has long been the goal of man with enduring peace the ultimate reward, instead of promoting good sportsmanship - whereby the victor is gracious and the vanquished inspired - our society has adopted the notion that competition itself be banished. Conflict being the key word here, it must be segregated from the word "contest".

Life itself, at least in a free society, is nothing but a contest. And especially in America, where the contest is the thing - through the myriad promotions to "win a million" - attempts to stifle the will to succeed seem rather...un-American. Yet we are faced with rules and regulations that squelch the human spirit to win from a young age, all under the guise of alleged safety. While winning by simple fortuitousness is acceptable, the same result due to hard work is frowned upon. Forgive me, but that concept seems completely backward.

When children are prohibited from running on school grounds, forbidden to play dodge ball and punished for any physical contact whatsoever, they become adults who cringe at the notion of defeating a rival in the board room. After all, it really isn't fair that all of that hard work to win a contract was chosen over that of the poor schmuck who procrastinated and arrived with a proposal with half the effort.

Compassion is a wonderfully human concept, and a noble one as well, but it must be experienced from a lofty perch. It is only deliverable from a position of affordable philanthropy, and appreciated only from below. When all people have the same ability to give, they also enjoy the same capacity to accept. Total, complete equality may sound like some form of Utopia, but it is truly the death knell of a civilized society.

The king of the hill is an admirable - and should be a desirable - goal. Without it, there is no reason to exist.

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Give 'Em A Bargain

Any good business person knows that the best way to make more money is often to charge less. Sure, a high price tag is good for profit margins but if it repels customers to a high enough degree, it becomes worthless, thereby making the overall profitability drop to zero. Reduce the margin, draw in customers, and sell like crazy. Call it the tortoise and hare approach.

There is a town on Long Island in New York that has just embraced this simple philosophy, which is odd considering that government doesn't usually comprehend free market strategies. Quite the contrary, the practice most normally endorsed by the elected is to charge more as coffers dwindle; more in taxes.

Brookhaven Town may be the first to learn an important quality of capitalism - which sadly is at grave risk, but that's for another time - is such that when profits fall, sales are desperately needed to boost income. Understanding that the current economic climate has people choosing how to spread their increasingly limited resources, and facing its own budgetary woes, the town is experimenting with a half-off sale on outstanding parking tickets. That's right, Brookhaven is prepared, for a limited time only - call now, operators are standing by! - to fore go nearly a half million dollars if people will pay up now.

Here's where it gets confusing, though. If the town, which has the power of the county police force behind it, finds it difficult to collect fines from minor crimes to the degree that they have to offer a sale, what's to stop people from paying their property taxes on time in order to obtain the same deal?

Alas, I stray from my main point.

Ronald Reagan was one of few highly elected politicians to understand this basic principle of economics. Critics called his plan "Reaganomics" and sneeringly still refer to it as "trickle-down economics", something they insist on claiming was a failure, but the basic foundation is provably sound; the more money working people have as discretionary income, the more they will spend and the more the economy will benefit. And yes, it does work from the top down. Perhaps most important in this, especially at our current crisis, is that this model also means more cash spending and less credit spending.

The more money government seizes from individuals, the harder their everyday lives become. As we all know, nothing lasts forever, and things break. With less cash on hand, someone who needs a new refrigerator may have to buy it on credit and if times are that hard, those payments cut into an already squeezed budget. See the domino effect at work?

Government understands all too well the concept of living large on borrowed money, but they never have to worry about where the payments will come from; that's why they keep us common folks around. At least one small town may have stumbled across a painful truth, however blindly they may have found it. I just hope they absorb and store the lesson. Perhaps it could start a trickle-up effect...that's how governments usually work anyway.

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