A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and was very much in favor of the redistribution of wealth.


She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.


One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the addition of more government welfare programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.


He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.


Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?"


She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over."


Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."


The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair! I have worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"


The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the Republican party."

3/27/2006 7:54:19 PM

first of all, REALLY really old

secondly, lame.

thirdly, the republican party has NOTHING to do with fiscal conservatism anymore. maybe that joke could now end with "welcome to the libertarian party," and then he could smoke some weed and shoot her

[Edited on March 27, 2006 at 7:57 PM. Reason : .]

3/27/2006 7:57:06 PM

money is worthless without the US government....

and hard work will not always get me lots of money.

LAME!

3/27/2006 8:09:32 PM

what DG said.

3/27/2006 8:11:00 PM

I'm embarassed for mytwocents.

3/27/2006 8:15:25 PM

all poor people are lazy crackheads

3/27/2006 8:23:48 PM

Quote :

"thirdly, the republican party has NOTHING to do with fiscal conservatism anymore."

Sounds like the topic is redistribution of wealth, which is and always will be a dividing line between ideological liberals and conservatives.

If they had ventured into the topic of spending, you might have a point.

3/27/2006 8:35:24 PM

Quote :

"REALLY really old"

3/27/2006 9:19:19 PM

Quote :

"first of all, REALLY really old"

Not as old as "...from each according to his ability to each according to his needs" Now we're talking lame!

Quote :

"the republican party has NOTHING to do with fiscal conservatism "

So true.

3/27/2006 9:31:35 PM

I hadn't heard it till now.

3/27/2006 9:45:26 PM

y'all can suck my ovaries OK...jeezus...I'd never heard it til today, or maybe I had and then had forgotten about it, I don't know... but I don't care, I still find it interesting

3/27/2006 9:55:38 PM

Even if it is old, it wouldn't be the first time someone posted something ancient.

And it isn't a doubt upon you that they say it is old. They are just doing to feel special, so ignore them.

3/27/2006 10:01:04 PM

I think it's that special combination of old and fucking stupid that makes this thread a winner.

3/27/2006 10:03:41 PM

I believe the [old] thing was the first thing I learned was overused on Tdub back on post #101 or so

3/27/2006 10:04:41 PM

[old] is over used, just like your vagina. But in the case of [old] it actually has a use, where as your vagina doesn't.

3/27/2006 10:31:57 PM

Quote :

"I think it's that special combination of old and fucking stupid that makes this thread a winner."

[Edited on March 27, 2006 at 10:36 PM. Reason : mostly the latter]

3/27/2006 10:36:28 PM

Quote :

"y'all can suck my ovaries OK...jeezus...I'd never heard it til today, or maybe I had and then had forgotten about it, I don't know... but I don't care, I still find it interesting "

did you really just get upset about a sarcastic comment on the internet?

3/27/2006 10:45:28 PM

Quote :

"maybe that joke could now end with "welcome to the libertarian party," "

3/27/2006 11:05:55 PM

Quote :

"maybe that joke could now end with "welcome to the libertarian party," and then he could smoke some weed and shoot her "

Best DirtyGreek quote evar.

3/27/2006 11:33:54 PM

Taxes and grades are totally analogous.

3/27/2006 11:33:54 PM

Welfare sucks.

But so does this analogy.

3/28/2006 3:35:46 AM

^^^ glad you liked it

3/28/2006 7:33:11 AM

the fact that models get paid lots of money makes anything like this completely void.

3/28/2006 8:55:51 AM

So what if the girls were born with different GPA's because of their parents?

3/28/2006 9:34:14 AM

Children of wealthy parents tend to get better grades.

3/28/2006 10:51:52 AM

THE PANTS PARTY

3/28/2006 10:54:36 AM

Quote :

"thirdly, the republican party has NOTHING to do with fiscal conservatism anymore"

I agree with PrawnStar. This has nothing to do with spending and everything to do with the concept of individual responsibility which is as true of the republican party today as it was in the past.

3/28/2006 11:01:37 AM

its funny to see people get so upset about the TRUTH!

3/28/2006 11:37:48 AM

what that GPA and Money is a horrible comparison?

3/28/2006 12:10:29 PM

People can die if their GPA gets too low.

[Edited on March 28, 2006 at 12:25 PM. Reason : ]

3/28/2006 12:25:18 PM

3/28/2006 12:39:25 PM

if my GPA isnt high enough then Im going to have to feed ramen noodles to my kid who is a 2 years old.

3/28/2006 12:45:24 PM

Bottom line is that, like your GPA, how much money you make is DIRECTLY related to how hard you work...for instance

I work in finance at Rockefeller Center in NYC...because of how much money I make, I can guarantee you that I work harder than people picking oranges in Florida. I also know that I work harder than the guy that works at night cleaning up our toilets. I mean, he probably takes breaks to play helicopter more than I do, which is why he makes less...

3/28/2006 12:51:20 PM

Race and gender affect how much GPA a person earns, yeah?

3/28/2006 12:53:31 PM

Quote :

"I can guarantee you that I work harder than people picking oranges in Florida. I also know that I work harder than the guy that works at night cleaning up our toilets."

You're at work posting on tdub. Yeah...

3/28/2006 12:58:45 PM

^^^ Yes, because someones GPA is 100% determined by how hard one works. Anyone willing to put in the effort could get any degree they wanted. A beautician could become a mechanical engineer, an illiterate from Alabama can major in english.

All they have to do is work equally as hard and they're guaranteed a 4.0 GPA! </sarcasm>

The fact is, neither your GPA or your income is 100% determined by anything. That some of your income, like your GPA, was given to you by circumstance doesn't change the fact that they are yours, not someone elses.

[Edited on March 28, 2006 at 1:02 PM. Reason : ^]

3/28/2006 1:00:54 PM

OOOOOOOOOOH MAAAAAAAAANNNN

Picking oranges in 100 degree weather for hours making very little pay is in no way shape or form harder than sitting in an air conditioned office posting on tww.

3/28/2006 1:02:13 PM

So EVERYONE in the country no matter how much money they have can go to whatever college they want to as long as they do well enough in highschool?

3/28/2006 1:04:17 PM

You do realize I was being sarcastic CDeezntz? Thats why I compared my job to a couple jobs that you quite obviously have to work harder at...

3/28/2006 1:07:41 PM

Quote :

"Anyone willing to put in the effort could get any degree they wanted."

This is an illusion. Everything you have and do was determined by circumstance.

3/28/2006 1:23:00 PM

Quote :

"Picking oranges in 100 degree weather for hours making very little pay is in no way shape or form harder than sitting in an air conditioned office posting on tww."

but what did you have to do to get to that air conditioned office? Most people had to study hard and sacrifice numerous things (such as skipping school to smoke pot or whatever) during high-school/college that the field hand enjoyed

we each make our own choice for the most part. We could increase public funding for scholarships, but by and large, if someone wants to quit their job and go to college and put in the significant effort required to make good grades, they can do it under the scholarships that are available now.

Learning is tough. And for some people, they would rather work in 100 degree weather than sit at a desk and stare at calculus for 7 hours. SO LET THEM - but don't reward them equally for unequal effort.

[Edited on March 28, 2006 at 1:27 PM. Reason : s]

3/28/2006 1:25:34 PM

Quote :

"but what did you have to do to get to that air conditioned office? Most people had to study hard and sacrifice numerous things (such as skipping school to smoke pot or whatever) during high-school/college that the field hand enjoyed"

that is obviously it.

you have officially and successfully determined why people are poor and work blue collar jobs.

3/28/2006 1:27:01 PM

i was speaking to the aggregate - not individual cases

3/28/2006 1:27:40 PM

ya know, i really didn't sacrifice much. I mean, I worked hard, but I partied plenty, skipped classes, and all that, and I'm doing great

of course this is all anecdotal evidence

3/28/2006 1:29:00 PM

some people are lucky. perhaps you have a greater capacity for learning.

perhaps the field-hand has a higher tolerance for heat

3/28/2006 1:37:02 PM

Quote :

"This has nothing to do with spending and everything to do with the concept of individual responsibility which is as true of the republican party today as it was in the past."

It seems that individual responsibility is only an issue when it's a convenient excuse to avoid tackling social injustice.

3/28/2006 1:40:00 PM

I went to college paid for by my parents. Once there, I mostly just drank. Through my freshman and sophomore years I hardly went to class, and ended up taking calculus 3 times, and chemistry and english 2 times to get through...all due to my lack of effort. I ended up with a DECENT GPA, which got me a job. In the end, my job is partly due to work in college, but overall, more due to the fact that my parents had enough money to send me to college.

Yeah you can talk about scholarships all you want, but the bottom line is there arent enough scholarships to go around to every person that needs them, which is what makes this all unequal

And I HIGHLY doubt anyone picking oranges at the border is doing so because they CHOSE not to work hard in school...maybe there are some firemen, cops, construction workers that chose not to do mental work, but not orange pickers.

3/28/2006 1:40:46 PM

this thread kills too many braincells to be useful to humanity

3/28/2006 1:50:21 PM

Quote :

"Yeah you can talk about scholarships all you want, but the bottom line is there arent enough scholarships to go around to every person that needs them, which is what makes this all unequal"

you're wrong. the bottom line is that there are enough scholarships to go around to every person that will put in the work to get them.

problem is, most blue-collars can't handle that thar book-larnin. I can call up my own anecdotes if this is where we're headed. I tutored at a community college for 3 years.

3/28/2006 1:54:53 PM

If every single person that had good enough grades pursued it correctly, they could all get full scholarships (or at least enough that they would only need a part time job to pay off the rest)?

If so, I stand corrected, but Ive never heard this before

3/28/2006 2:01:52 PM