How to catch a wild hog

[Gern Blansten]

How to Catch a Wild Hog (or The End of Freedom)
By Lowell E. Hedges

Several years ago I was supervising a beginning teacher in a city school system. One day during our end-of-the-day feedback conference, the young man gave a facial grimace and began to rub his back. I asked him if he had strained his back in the school lab.

After a long period of silence, he sat down at his desk and explained that he had immigrated to the United States because of political problems in his native country. The discomfort in his back was caused by a bullet wound he had received while fighting the Communists who were trying to take over his country's government. He was then a member of the underground nationalist force.

Then he asked me a surprising question: "Dr. Hedges, do you know how to catch a wild hog?"

The question was completely out of context regarding the day's classroom and lab teaching. I replied, "I'm not sure what you are talking about. Tell me."

"First," he said, "you find out where the wild hogs are roaming and feeding and then you put some corn out in the field. Soon they will come to eat the corn. You keep putting out the free corn. More wild hogs keep coming to eat the corn."

"So what?" I said. "That's normal for any animal."

"Be patient. I will tell you what comes next," he said. "After the hogs get used to your free corn, you put up a length of fence along one side of the feeding area. The hogs get used to it. You keep giving them the corn. Then you put up another section of fence at right angles to the first. You keep givin g them the corn. The hogs get used to the second fence. Then you put up another length of fence at right angles to the second section."

"You now have a U-shaped fenced area. The hogs get used to that section of the fence. You keep giving them free corn. Then you put another section of fence with a gate in it, making a closed area except for the gate. You keep giving them corn. Now, the hogs no longer are out in the fields, working to find their own food. They keep coming into the area to eat the free corn. They get used to the fenced area with the open gate. Then, one day you slam shut the gate when the hogs are inside the fenced area. The wild hogs are caught - they are your prisoners."

I understood then that the wild hogs were really the people of his native country and that the free corn was the enticements that the Communists were giving to the people.

"That's correct," the young man said. "Now, the hogs will not get anything to eat unless you give them food. You are in control. They depend on you to feed them, or they will starve. They can't get out into the fields and forests anymore to find their own food. They have probably forgotten how, as it is. They are your servants, your prisoners. They must obey you. Or else they starve."

"The hogs," he said, "were so accustomed to having the free corn, that they ignored the building of the fences that would eventually trap them. When the gate slammed shut, it was too late for them to realize what they had been blind to. The free corn was enticing, so effortless to obtain, but eventually the cause of their loss of freedom. The fence had been built; the gate had been shut."

At this point in our conversation, the young teacher , in a voice shaking with emotion and with fists hitting the desktop, loudly exclaimed, "This is what I see happening in America today! People are being offered free corn
by the government. People are blind to the fences being built around them by the liberals - the socialists - and that is what frightens me! Just like it was happening in my homeland. The American people do not learn from history. And history shows that socialism/communism does not work."

"Take note of Russia. Has socialism been the best thing that ever happened to that country? Absolutely not! But socialism is what the American people are being fed, and they don't realize it. All they can focus on is the 'free corn.' They want more and more of the free corn. And this free corn is being fed to us little by little, and soon the gate will slam shut. I am very frightened, and also amazed, that the American pe ople don't see what is being fed us, and for what purpose." With that said, the young man sat down at his desk and continued to rub his painful back.

And I was silent in my chair. And afraid. For I could visualize the supposedly "free corn" being fed to our nation's people and our growing addiction to the "free corn". And I could see the gate being slammed shut. We, the people of the United States of America, because of our ignorance of history, because of our addiction to the supposedly "free corn," could soon be prisoners of liberal socialism.

Along with this fighter for freedom from socialism/communism, I too, wanted to slam my fists on the desktop and cry out in a loud voice for all to hear, "Wake up, America! The fences are being built! Don't you see what is happening to us?" In the agenda of the new Congress governed by liberal sociali sts, there is much "free corn" being promised to the American people. In our greed for this "free corn," will we ignore the incremental building of the fences and the inevitable shutting of the gate? As I ponder the building of the fences now underway by the new Congress, I remember the old adage, "there is always free cheese in a mousetrap."

It seems the only thing we learn from history is that we do not learn from history.


Discuss

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[Monty Python]

..... "This is what I see happening in America today! People are being offered free corn
by the government. People are blind to the fences being built around them by the liberals - the socialists - and that is what frightens me! Just like it was happening in my homeland. The American people do not learn from history. And history shows that socialism/communism does not work."

"The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon is eerily similar. The current entitlement mind-set did not exist in this country in the 1700s and 1800s. It will be the ruination of the US.

 

[starsop93]

Quality of life indicators are usually quite high in the socialist European countries (i.e. France, Germany, Sweden) and Canada. In fact they are usually a lot higher than in the US.

Don't over-conflate "socialism" with "communism". Communism is just one, fairly extreme, version of socialism where the state controls the economy and all the means of production. Very few of those countries have EVER existed. Most socialist countries have the state control large national programs such as health care, transportation, and welfare, but those are rarely exclusive to the state. For example Canada has quite a lot of private health care in addition to the Medicare program. The US has some fairly well-managed (and poor-managed) social programs that benefit the people, but are, as in most countries, hampered by inadequate funding; although I would argue our programs are much poorer funded than most. Additionally, very few countries exist without some social programs, and those are not countries many of us would want to live in.

However you fall on the spectrum, there are some programs that historically do NOT make money on the private market and for which the government will undoubtedly do better. Most clearly this includes transportation (rail, airlines, roads) and some kinds of energy (nuclear). I (and most outcomes data) would argue healthcare is better served by majority state control, but there is still a lot of money in healthcare to be made by corporations... for now. The patients and providers get the shaft in the meantime.

 

[cfdavid]

Quality of life indicators are usually quite high in the socialist European countries (i.e. France, Germany, Sweden) and Canada. In fact they are usually a lot higher than in the US.

Don't over-conflate "socialism" with "communism". Communism is just one, fairly extreme, version of socialism where the state controls the economy and all the means of production. Very few of those countries have EVER existed. Most socialist countries have the state control large national programs such as health care, transportation, and welfare, but those are rarely exclusive to the state. For example Canada has quite a lot of private health care in addition to the Medicare program. The US has some fairly well-managed (and poor-managed) social programs that benefit the people, but are, as in most countries, hampered by inadequate funding; although I would argue our programs are much poorer funded than most. Additionally, very few countries exist without some social programs, and those are not countries many of us would want to live in.

However you fall on the spectrum, there are some programs that historically do NOT make money on the private market and for which the government will undoubtedly do better. Most clearly this includes transportation (rail, airlines, roads) and some kinds of energy (nuclear). I (and most outcomes data) would argue healthcare is better served by majority state control, but there is still a lot of money in healthcare to be made by corporations... for now. The patients and providers get the shaft in the meantime.

I do agree with you that the government DOES do some things that are unlikely (possible theoretically, but unlikely) to be handled appropriately by private industry. Look what happened to an unregulated (i.e. keep the gov't bureaucrats out!!) mortgage lending industry. Look what happens to FEMA when the administration cut their budget to be "lean and mean" etc.
The airlines are another example. I often wonder about safety with the kinds of profit pressures these companies are under, especially these days.

**That being said, most of Europe have a very different demographic than the U.S. What works in Sweden or Germany may not work well in the U.S. I think we might all agree, though, that we could be doing a LOT better in terms of cost/benefit of U.S. healthcare.


Check out the following article. It's from one of the major German magazines.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,510388,00.html

Court Rules Filling Cigarette Machines Isn't Drug Dealing
Two partially disabled Germans got their welfare benefits cut for turning down a job re-filling cigarette vending machines. A German court has denied their claim that the job was "drug-dealing" and affirmed that the insurer's act was lawful.


REUTERS
A German federal court ruled Tuesday that requiring someone to sell cigarettes isn't forcing them to be a drug dealer.

A German court ruled on Tuesday that a government insurance agency had the right to withhold benefit payments from two partially disabled men who turned down a job filling cigarette machines.

The Federal Social Court based in Kassel was responding to a case in which two unemployed former miners from the western city of Gelsenkirchen had turned down jobs replacing cigarettes in automatic vending machines, claiming that doing so was tantamount to "drug-dealing with nicotine."

The defendant was a special federal insurance organization -- with its own set of provisions -- for seamen, railway workers and miners.

"The state does everything it can to get people to refrain from smoking," the men's lawyer told the court. "And now you want to force someone to become a cigarette-dealer? That's insanity."

He added that his clients, 41 and 45, one of whom had been a long-time heavy smoker, had "no desire to become even a little cog in the machine of making someone addicted."

The court held, however, that: "The lawmakers have decided to leave the decision to consumers as to whether they damage themselves. But insurance providers have to give equal weight to the interests of individuals and the premium payers taken as a whole." In this case, they added, personal preferences must give way.


NEWSLETTER
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Germany's pension insurance has special provisions for several employee categories, including the self-employed and public employees. There are several gradations of partial disability, which can require people to work for a set -- but reduced -- number of hours, depending on their degree of disability. Rejecting a "reasonable offer of gainful employment" can lead to partial or full loss of benefits.

Twenty-two million Germans -- or 27 percent of the population -- smoke, according to the Federal Statistics Office. Three of Germany's federal states have already implemented partial smoking bans in public establishments such as bars and restaurants, with other states expected to follow suit in 2008.

jtw/dpa

*************Yet in the U.S., you'd think we had 0% unemployment. We're constantly hearing about how our nation would shut down without massive #'s of immigrants. Well, apparently there are jobs that "Americans just don't want to do". Well you know what? Tough sh..t. If you have other options, and don't want to do agricultural work, then so be it. If you can program computers, then by all means, don't take the job at the meat packing plant.

But, what if a job DOES open up at a local landscape or lawn service company?? What then? Do we continue sending the message that, "sure, there are jobs, but some people just won't do those jobs". "That's o.k., we'll continue deluding ourselves into thinking this doesn't/won't have major ramifications for our society".

Maybe we can learn a few things from Europe.

 

[2win]

How to Catch a Wild Hog (or The End of Freedom)
By Lowell E. Hedges

Several years ago I was supervising a beginning teacher in a city school system. One day during our end-of-the-day feedback conference, the young man gave a facial grimace and began to rub his back. I asked him if he had strained his back in the school lab.

After a long period of silence, he sat down at his desk and explained that he had immigrated to the United States because of political problems in his native country. The discomfort in his back was caused by a bullet wound he had received while fighting the Communists who were trying to take over his country's government. He was then a member of the underground nationalist force.

Then he asked me a surprising question: "Dr. Hedges, do you know how to catch a wild hog?"

The question was completely out of context regarding the day's classroom and lab teaching. I replied, "I'm not sure what you are talking about. Tell me."

"First," he said, "you find out where the wild hogs are roaming and feeding and then you put some corn out in the field. Soon they will come to eat the corn. You keep putting out the free corn. More wild hogs keep coming to eat the corn."

"So what?" I said. "That's normal for any animal."

"Be patient. I will tell you what comes next," he said. "After the hogs get used to your free corn, you put up a length of fence along one side of the feeding area. The hogs get used to it. You keep giving them the corn. Then you put up another section of fence at right angles to the first. You keep givin g them the corn. The hogs get used to the second fence. Then you put up another length of fence at right angles to the second section."

"You now have a U-shaped fenced area. The hogs get used to that section of the fence. You keep giving them free corn. Then you put another section of fence with a gate in it, making a closed area except for the gate. You keep giving them corn. Now, the hogs no longer are out in the fields, working to find their own food. They keep coming into the area to eat the free corn. They get used to the fenced area with the open gate. Then, one day you slam shut the gate when the hogs are inside the fenced area. The wild hogs are caught - they are your prisoners."

I understood then that the wild hogs were really the people of his native country and that the free corn was the enticements that the Communists were giving to the people.

"That's correct," the young man said. "Now, the hogs will not get anything to eat unless you give them food. You are in control. They depend on you to feed them, or they will starve. They can't get out into the fields and forests anymore to find their own food. They have probably forgotten how, as it is. They are your servants, your prisoners. They must obey you. Or else they starve."

"The hogs," he said, "were so accustomed to having the free corn, that they ignored the building of the fences that would eventually trap them. When the gate slammed shut, it was too late for them to realize what they had been blind to. The free corn was enticing, so effortless to obtain, but eventually the cause of their loss of freedom. The fence had been built; the gate had been shut."

At this point in our conversation, the young teacher , in a voice shaking with emotion and with fists hitting the desktop, loudly exclaimed, "This is what I see happening in America today! People are being offered free corn
by the government. People are blind to the fences being built around them by the liberals - the socialists - and that is what frightens me! Just like it was happening in my homeland. The American people do not learn from history. And history shows that socialism/communism does not work."

"Take note of Russia. Has socialism been the best thing that ever happened to that country? Absolutely not! But socialism is what the American people are being fed, and they don't realize it. All they can focus on is the 'free corn.' They want more and more of the free corn. And this free corn is being fed to us little by little, and soon the gate will slam shut. I am very frightened, and also amazed, that the American pe ople don't see what is being fed us, and for what purpose." With that said, the young man sat down at his desk and continued to rub his painful back.

And I was silent in my chair. And afraid. For I could visualize the supposedly "free corn" being fed to our nation's people and our growing addiction to the "free corn". And I could see the gate being slammed shut. We, the people of the United States of America, because of our ignorance of history, because of our addiction to the supposedly "free corn," could soon be prisoners of liberal socialism.

Along with this fighter for freedom from socialism/communism, I too, wanted to slam my fists on the desktop and cry out in a loud voice for all to hear, "Wake up, America! The fences are being built! Don't you see what is happening to us?" In the agenda of the new Congress governed by liberal sociali sts, there is much "free corn" being promised to the American people. In our greed for this "free corn," will we ignore the incremental building of the fences and the inevitable shutting of the gate? As I ponder the building of the fences now underway by the new Congress, I remember the old adage, "there is always free cheese in a mousetrap."

It seems the only thing we learn from history is that we do not learn from history.

"T.R. Reid, Senate Finance, 'Universal' Healthcare" - I spent an hour to listen how this guy went in Japan, he had a shoulder injury...He found from a neighbor the name of the best ortho dude. He called and the doctor saw him immediately. Not only that - second day he had surgery. And he had the balls to tell us that physicians in US are overpaid. And everybody will be able to buy Medicare. And that our offices are to expensive. There was no physican in the audeince. The guy gave the major lines that will shape the healthcare policy in the next years. I was amazed - this is the end guys. I totally agree with your point. I don't think that there is a point of return at this moment. Try to find the recording - it was on C span.

 

[amyl]

the reference to Rome is particulary poignant, thanks trin -- a comparison i often make. the romans distracted by the colliseum, americans distracted by the latest fiasco in brittany spear's life.... same damn difference. thanks to the OP for the story. wish that they all could see that they are being lead to slaughter. wish that they could see the smoke and mirrors b.s. maybe a third party is the answer....be it perot, etc. or my beloved libertarians (wish they could be a little more mainstream -- nobody is ready for the revolution ;-). those who don't study history ARE destined to repeat it. sad times we are on the brink of. this great experiment falling to socialism would be/is heart breaking. 'course politics is one of my fave topics....and one i know i should avoid discussing but can never help myself....

 

[cfdavid]

the reference to Rome is particulary poignant, thanks trin -- a comparison i often make. the romans distracted by the colliseum, americans distracted by the latest fiasco in brittany spear's life.... same damn difference. thanks to the OP for the story. wish that they all could see that they are being lead to slaughter. wish that they could see the smoke and mirrors b.s. maybe a third party is the answer....be it perot, etc. or my beloved libertarians (wish they could be a little more mainstream -- nobody is ready for the revolution ;-). those who don't study history ARE destined to repeat it. sad times we are on the brink of. this great experiment falling to socialism would be/is heart breaking. 'course politics is one of my fave topics....and one i know i should avoid discussing but can never help myself....

Amen. Actually, being a student of history is very empowering. It helps see things more clearly, I think.

The key to studying history (as a hobby for example) is to keep an open mind and be able to discern what has been written "by the winners" and thus may be subject to revisionism, while we now know it was the Red Army. It's important to continually reevaluate what we know about world events in order to avoid being mislead by disinformation or to political untruths.

A good example is the Katyn massacre in Poland. Basically, 14,000 Polish officers were massacred during WWII. Up until very recently, it was actively promoted that the Nazi's were the perpetrators. This served the Soviet Union in a major way as Poland obviously became a client state of the USSR. It's also served the Allied Powers to discredit Hitler in any way possible, even at the expense of reality. So, misinformation was promoted in order to serve a political/social agenda.

 

[Arch Guillotti]

Bleh. It's pretty narrow minded to blame stuff on "the liberals". The country is in the toilet right now and the conservatives have been in charge for the last two terms.

 

[amyl]

who blamed the liberals? they all suck.... become a libertarian -- they are the only politicians who will vote for less of themselves ;-)

 

[IctalSmile]

who blamed the liberals? they all suck.... become a libertarian -- they are the only politicians who will vote for less of themselves ;-)

^^^agreed!