Why save when others will pay your way?

I would like to thank Mr. Williams (Fence Post, Sept. 16) for alerting me to the perils of personal responsibility. I have to admit that at first my daughter was a little angry when I explained to her that because she saved her money and her sister spent hers that out of a newfound sense of compassion I was going to have to take some of her money and give it to her sister. She got over it though when I explained that now she could spend the rest of the money that she had left because saving for anything was unimportant when you have a compassionate government that can just take the money from somebody else that who more and give it to you.

When she asked me if she should save some of her money for the walkathon pledge she made, I explained to her that charity was for conservative saps that did not understand that the government should be responsible for health care. Who was going to pay for the government? she asked. Well, darling, although even asking that question smacks of a certain amount of personal responsibility, that’s the great part about our newfound sense of compassion. The government obviously needs to be paid for by somebody; you just have to make sure that it is paid for by somebody else.

Scott Schmidt

Arlington Heights