March 25, 2009
Bailouts are wrong, period.

Posted at 12:28 pm, in: Republicans
Tags: Bailout, Responsibility, Rights, Student Loans

I worked my butt off to get through college. Granted, the expensive private university I attended wasn’t a requirement. Choices were made, perhaps mistakes. Typically, I worked two jobs in college, approximately 40-45 hours a week, while overloading my schedule with six classes a semester. I did whatever it took to pay for school. That included student loans.

I am a little disgusted to see anyone asking for a bailout on their student loans. I share in the outrage of fellow bloggers American Power and ReTake Education at Allahpundit and through guilt-by-association HotAir, for calling for a student loan bailout.

At the time I was taking out these loans, in sums so large I could have bought a house, I couldn’t understand what I was getting myself into. Still, I got myself into it and got myself in further with my (not yet received) MA in Government from Johns Hopkins. As I reap the reward from these degrees, I should also be responsible for the costs, especially since I knowingly took them on, agreeing to pay them back in full, with interest.

It is my fault and my responsibility. I did borrow federal money. I borrowed from my neighbors, my fellow taxpayers, and I do not have the right to reneg on my promise and not pay them back. Why should I leave them on the hook for my education?

This would be one the problems I have alluded to in the past when it comes to Republicans. When did it become about where to spend the money rather than should we spend the money? You can’t be against TARP and these bailouts on one hand and then argue on the other that you think student loans should be bailed out.

What you are really saying is that you’re not against the bailouts, generally, you’re just against who is getting bailed out, specifically, because you aren’t amongst those people.

As Alexander Fraser Tytler famously said, “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. “

Is this what we have come to in America? Is this truly where we’re at? If so, we’re standing on the brink. We really do have some tough choices to make. And, the time to make them is now.

It is time that as individuals we stand up for what is right and stop looking to “get ours.” It is time to take responsibility for ourselves and our nation. It is time to distinguish between what is a necessity and what is a want; what is a right and what is a desire; what is right and what is wrong.

Bailouts are wrong, period. Allowing your government to steal from your fellow citizen to support you is wrong. I can’t believe this even needs explanation.