By: Ted Nugent
I suppose some of my young friends back in Detroit in those good old days of the rockin’ 1950s and ’60s could have considered their weekly allowance as a “safety net” to get them through the week. Though they would have been wrong, at least the ridiculous notion of being “entitled” to it hadn’t quite taken effect just yet.
My siblings and I, and thankfully many families of that post-WWII era, were introduced to a much more meaningful and historically proven beneficial perspective: Do your chores and do them right, and you will have a roof over your head, decent food to eat, clean hand-me-down clothing and a family that loves you and will be there for you. Perform them excellently, and the reward of a fun weekend hunting or fishing trip may very well be in the making.
I must admit that seeing all those neighborhood kids with too much time on their hands was awfully appealing in contrast to my pain in the a– work regimen of cutting lawns, raking leaves, painting fences, washing cars, shoveling snow, taking out the trash, cleaning up the house and being part of the Nugent team for a quality and orderly lifestyle.
I was young and dumb and uneducated. One would have to be to not understand these basics of life. But I was learning.
When it came time for material indulgences, like getting an electric guitar for my little rock ‘n’ roll combo to jam out at the local sock hops and community center dances, my dear old dad would help me out as long as we had a clear understanding that I would earn such extracurricular goodies.
There was no hesitation then for me to get more jobs at the tender age of 11 or 12. I started delivering the Shopping News newspaper to my 100 or so customers from the elevated seat of my Huffy “StumpJumper” bike. Not only was I the fastest paper delivery boy on earth, but my upbringing of settling for nothing short of excellence paid off with some pretty handsome 50-cent to even a whole dollar tips from happy customers that appreciated my keeping their papers dry and guaranteed on time delivery.
Hmm … Though there was no “Work Ethic” or “Capitalism” curricula at any of the schools I attended, out there in the real world a clear and present pattern was taking a strong hold on young Ted; kick a– and be the absolute best that you can be, and forward motion and compensation reflective of one’s effort would be yours. I got it.
This is not to be confused with the sheep-like “economic equality” nonsense that virtually guarantees mediocrity at best, slovenly non-productive dependency at its worst. I think at this juncture, most successful Americans know that this fundamental truism of cause and effect is how capitalism works.
I continued to increase my workload with a second paper route, delivering the Detroit News to over 90 customers seven days a week, hunting big, fat, slimy night-crawlers in the middle of the night and selling them for fishing bait around the neighborhood and all sorts of jobs of every imaginable description.
If someone would have dared to claim back then that someday America would accept an official category of the American workforce as “those who have given up looking for a job,” or worse yet, a list of “jobs Americans are not willing to do,” you would have been laughed out of town.
Tragically, those two soulless, embarrassing anti-American categories are tossed about as if they are not only OK, but horrifically, something to actually be proud of.
It breaks my heart.
No such categories exist in my world. There is no job I am unwilling to perform and perform at the best of my ability. And “giving up looking for a job”! That is downright insane.
When did it become the new, dumbed down America where so many Americans stopped asking themselves to do everything they can for their country, and instead squawk and whine a list of what they demand their country must do for them?
Stay on course, liberal Democrats. You are steering America straight down the fast track, lick for lick, the same suicidal path that destroyed my beloved Detroit and so many other cities, states and nations around the world.
Negotiate for sick days instead of better quality products, and continue to punish the producers while rewarding the bloodsuckers. Yeah, that oughta work this time around.