Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The Ten CANNOTS............by Wm John Henry Boetcker



William John Henry Boetcker (1873–1962) was an American religious leader and influential public speaker. Rev. Boetcker is perhaps best remembered for his authorship of a pamphlet entitled The Ten Cannots that emphasizes freedom and responsibility of the individual on himself. There are several minor variants of the pamphlet in circulation, but the most commonly accepted version appears below:
 ·         You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
·         You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
·         You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
·         You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
·         You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
·         You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
·         You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
·         You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
·         You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.
·         And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves

Which do you disagree with?  Which resonates the most with you?

Z

61 comments:

DaBlade said...

They are all undeniable truths. Unfortunately, those that need to embrace these concepts are victims of #11 - You cannot speak sense to a liberal by using logic and fact thingys. They are complicit "victims" of the oft repeated "definition of insanity".

Constitutional Insurgent said...

The list could be expanded, but all items are provable truths.

Bob said...

Where is the mention of social justice? Income redistribution? How about fairness of outcomes?



Always On Watch said...

All of these are the antitheses of the philosophy of the Obama administration.

Always On Watch said...

I'll add one:

You cannot promote neither excellence in education nor self-esteem if you make sure that everyone gets an award.

American Jihad said...

A Must See

See It Please


http://www.youtube.com/v/AgYLr_LfhLo?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0

Anonymous said...

Wow, that was Awsome
Thanks A J

sue hanes said...

Z - You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

That is one I agree with the most.

There is always going to be rich and there is no way to destroy them. There's got to be a better way to help the poor.

Mustang said...

I think I take exception to the maxim, “You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.” Look how close we’ve all become since Ducky began spewing forth his hatred on a daily basis.

Impertinent said...

@AJ:

As a vet...I found that video was a bit too maudlin even for me.

But...Thanks

Anonymous said...

As a Vet I thought it was GREAT

Ducky's here said...

You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

========
Brings to mind Henry Ford boosting his workers' wage so that they could afford his cars.

This guy endorses a race to the bottom. Foolish.

Ducky's here said...

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
----
Notice this tyro's use of language. Strictly from the Frank Luntz school.

Destroy?

No. But you need some balance and hooking on to an economic system that destroys the middle class is pure stupidity and that's where we are now.

Or you can buy into the myth that hedge fund managers are job creators despite the evidence you see around you.

Any of the suckers following the news on TPP or are you still being fed Benghazi 24/7?

Ducky's here said...

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

-------
What this guy neglects is that for both to prosper the wealthy are going to have to give up something.

Of course most of you would rather be on the receiving end of The Full Ayn Rand. Wake up.

Impertinent said...

@Ed:

I'm not dissing it Ed...to each his own right?

A. Reader said...

Keep Ben Gazi alive

Impertinent said...

As D.R. would say...

"You don't know what you don't know."

Baysider said...

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. I'll say it again -- I was never employed by a poor man.

They're all rooted in thoughtful observation of human nature, of which the Obama administration remains in perpetual ignorance. Maybe that's because they've committed the number 1 National Crime of which Boetcker also spoke: I don't think.

JonBerg said...

My pick is:

"You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence"


It comes at no great surprise to learn that Ducky, once again, fails to get it! Is liberalism covered under Obamacare?

Ducky's here said...

You were never employed by a hedge fund manager either, Baysider.

A large percentage of the American economy is simply moving money around. It creates NOTHING but you'll spout the pithy little platitudes.

Of course, if the government didn't supplement poverty wages at Walmart there would be rioting and you'd probably be the first to pay up to fund the stinking cops to keep the trash in its place.

Baysider said...

When I disapprove of how some people [legally] earn their wealth (let's say, many on K Street in DC, e.g.) I can still walk and chew gum at the same time. I'm not trapped in that Maoist-Leninist class group thinking that frames Ducky's view as black or white.

Yes! I am un-apologetically grateful that there are rich people who hire my services. And just as eager to stretch out a helping hand to poor and unfortunate who - despite years of effort by sociologists to make us think of the 'poor' as a 'class' - I can still see as individuals of varying character and need.

Just because we have yahoos like in the video Imp linked to yesterday, doesn't mean I will dismiss needy people any more than I will diss the rich because there are yahoos among them. Character still counts.

Ducky's here said...

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

-----
Wrong.

Credit cards and excessive debt have enriched a number of people quite handsomely.

Of course the suckers don't see that they are on the losing end of the zero sum game but if they didn't play they wouldn't have jobs, right Baysider?

skudrunner said...

"But you need some balance and hooking on to an economic system that destroys the middle class is pure stupidity and that's where we are now."

Does obama support the middle class? His support is for the rich and the poor, although you have to question what he has done to the poor not for them. He is on the attack against the middle class who work for and own the small businesses in this country.

Ducky's here said...

skud, the question is not Obama's policies. The question is the little pearls of wisdom presented as a trivial guide to economic policy which predates Obama.

If you continue to view this as Obama versus the one true way, you lose.

Anonymous said...

From Z of GeeeZ:

I think what we all need to remember is that Ducky comes from a very different place than we all do.
We all want everyone to have a nice car, to succeed, or at least FEEL THEY CAN.
Getting into credit card is never a good idea; hurting wage payers and not understanding that WAGES ARE A GOOD THING AND PEOPLE NEED THEM is just plain stupid (think constantly slamming corporations when we all know how many people are employed by them); nobody does better for others to be brought down.

I shudder when I think of luxuries and beautiful things being demonized and discouraged because the poor don't have them; it's the most horrid, stupid thinking ever and when the leftwingers have finalized this success, they'll be asking "what happened?" Yes, what happened?

Please, please let's take some of the restrictions off our middle class business owners to encourage them and help them succeed and HIRE. THAT is a good thing.

JonBerg...I love your question about liberalism being covered by Obama Care; sadly, not much IS.

Sam Huntington said...

@ Z

I believe that we are as different from Ducky as night is from day. You see, Ducky is the kind of person who would prefer that some state-appointed commissar decide whether a citizen should have a credit card. The citizen cannot be trusted to make good decisions, you see. In this, Ducky is far more like an Islamacist, whose entire reason for being is to prevent sin. If that means cutting off someone's head or stoning them to death, fine.

We, on the other hand, value freedom of choice. We are content to allow people to pursue their own way, including the consequences of unseemly behavior. So we must ask, even if rhetorically, which view values human liberty, Ducky, the flaming Bolshevik, or the rest of us who value classic liberalism?

Impertinent said...

OT...

"Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) rejected the Times’s conclusion that al Qaeda wasn’t responsible for the attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans," reported Julian Pecquet today..."


Is this pumpkin head having an epiphany?

Impertinent said...

OT:

What's in the water today? Think they're getting sick of the lies?

"At least one government watchdog is learning to bark again.

USA Today’s Opinion section dedicated “Today’s Debate” to religious freedom – or the fight over Obamacare’s contraception mandate.

In a January 13 piece entitled, “Obamacare Overreach Tramples Little Sisters of the Poor,” USA Today rebelled against its own (media) kind to call out the Obama administration for having “picked a fight with Catholics and other religious groups.”

Among other faults, the article found the administration’s “position” on the mandate “constitutionally suspect, politically foolish and ultimately unproductive.”

Constitutional Insurgent said...

" shudder when I think of luxuries and beautiful things being demonized and discouraged because the poor don't have them."

But that's not entirely true. Generally speaking they DO have them. Aside from being framed by an arbitrarily set "poverty line", our American poor enjoy a standard of living absurdly above and beyond the poor around the world. By and large, they maintain cable TV, cigarettes and alcohol. Instead of redistributing more wealth from the earned to the unearned, we need to target piss-poor priorities, horrid spending habits and the lack of basic fiscal education. Not propaganda, but education.

Impertinent said...

Oh my!

"When the Supreme Court sat yesterday to hear the matter of NLRB v. Noel Canning, virtually every justice was highly skeptical of the Obama administration's claim that President Obama's January 2012 "recess appointments" were a valid exercise of his constitutional authority.

After all, the president made the appointments when the U.S. Senate was technically in session -- a minutes-long pro forma session, but in session nonetheless.

Even former Obama solicitor general Elena Kagan, no conservative she, seemed critical of the White House's arguments."

Impertinent said...

@CI:


Wow...can't argue with one word.

skudrunner said...

"skud, the question is not Obama's policies"

Duck

It is the policies of the community organizer that has caused the stock market to roar. This is at the expense of the retired because of the dismal interest rates. It does, of course, aid large corporations who borrow money. You are very vocal in opposition to insurance companies making profits but you fail to acknowledge that obamadoom guarantees them a profit even if it comes from the taxpayer.

Anonymous said...

From Z of GeeeZ;

Sam; good points.

Imp: SOmetimes ol' Dianne surprises me...she actually thinks and sometimes even searches for truth :-) We have to give her credit!

CI: You're right in all you say about the poor. The poor around the world would do anything to trade places with ours.
I still believe giving a man a fishing pole instead of the fish is the only way to get our society truly running.....but the way we're keeping businesses from thriving with the ill advised restrictions we place on them, etc., and the way we're almost advertising welfare as something 'you all should get!' I don't know where to go from here.

Skud; it boggles my mind when I hear anybody voice opposition to COMPANY PROFITS. I'm a HUGE advocate of profit sharing, however, and hope to see more of that; Why can't leftists ever respond to our frequent statements that it's corporations who HIRE so let's do what we can to make sure they're legal and let them FLY with profits passed on to employees and more and more JOBS JOBS JOBS?

Ducky's here said...

skud, I do not defend Obama's fellating the financial markets but this behavior goes back a good deal further.

The deregulation foundation was set by Reagan and Clintoon completed the framing while L'il Bush did the finishing work.
Obama just stepped in to make sure no bankers were hurt when the building collapsed because of the fundamentally unsound laissez-faire foundation.

Ducky's here said...

z, corporations hire if there is DEMAND.

Do you believe that Mitt Romney is sitting on a pile of cash and says to himself, "I'm in a real Christian mood and I'm going to hire someone."

Are you that naive?
What he does is create asset bubbles that allow him to use his cash to pick up distressed assets for 20 cents on the dollar after the crash. Meanwhile demand is depressed and people lose jobs.

Or you can go to Walmart and buy some cheap Chinese crap that wears out quickly while the employees need government programs in order to kive decently. But you want those cut, right?

I;ll ask again what you think of TPP. I only ask to see if you know what's going on.

Impertinent said...

@Z:

"Dianne surprises me..."


Between her mindless trigger pulling, posing and her constant haranguing on 2A and those "assault weapons" of mass destruction?
She's a dangerous loon...with or without an AR in her hands. Mrs. Moonbeam I think.

Impertinent said...

@Sam H:

"who would prefer that some state-appointed commissar.."

Of course...if you are that commissar.
It's all about their Power, remember?

Impertinent said...

@Ducky:

"Obama's fellating the financial markets.."

What a picture.

Impertinent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Impertinent said...

"Obama reportedly plans to live with Titcomb in Hawaii..."

So...maybe the gay rumors are all true that his pal Larry wrote a book about?

Impertinent said...

@Kenosha:

"It's a puzzlement..."

You mean who wrote it? Anyone can borrow your name.

Impertinent said...

Top Ten Blonde Inventions:


1) The water-proof towel

2) Solar powered flashlight

3) Submarine screen door

4) A book on how to read

5) Inflatable dart board

6) A dictionary index

7) Ejector seat in a helicopter

8) Powdered water

9) Pedal-powered wheel chair

10) Water-proof tea bag

Kid said...

All 10 Z.

I'll just say, that fantastic quotes like this are wasted on libtards because they have no idea what they mean.

Anonymous said...

Z from GeeeZ:

Ducky.... I haven't a clue about the Trans Pacific Partnership and frankly don't care much..and I stand by what I said; whether you LIKE it or not.
Let's just keep giving it to small business and corporations with restrictions on global warming and other idiocies...squeeze them so they can't hire more people. That the solution? nice, Ducky.

Imp; Absolutely untrue; Feinstein isn't always making the right decision but she's seen the light QUITE a few more times than most leftwingers will admit to.

Kenosha...when I get home I'll be deleting it; I'm not big on The Enquirer being quoted here; especially about sordid junk like that, no matter if it's true or not.

Mustang, if you're around, will you delete the Kenosha Marge Obama/Michelle stuff? Thanks!

be back much later.

Kid said...

skudrunner, obama's "consumer advocate" policies have clearly hurt the poor. Especially with the banks.

In small example, the extra charge to maintain a checking account if you don't do direct deposit, or maintain about a 1500 avg daily balance.

Making it harder yet for those in a hole to dig out. And no doubt, obama is destroying the middle class. It is Really simple. Take what he says, turn it 180, You Got It. You Got it Baby ! You Got It !

Kid said...

While the idiots focus on Mitt Romney's 250 million, the obama's take hundreds of million dollar vacations routinely, michele hires her friend to create a non-working, worthless, not even half finished website chock full of identity theft holes, pays her almost a billion dollars and that's all good.

And that's not even a snowflake on the tip of the iceberg.

Yea. Morons. Mental Disease. Liberals need to be disarmed because of their mental illness and shipped out to some socialist hellhole where they'll no doubt be living in pure bliss because no changes will need to be made right?

France would be a good place for you duck since you like the arts. Now get on it. Go on. Send us a postcard.

Ducky's here said...

@kid --- obama's "consumer advocate" policies have clearly hurt the poor. Especially with the banks.

In small example, the extra charge to maintain a checking account if you don't do direct deposit, or maintain about a 1500 avg daily balance.
----

That's an Obama policy?

Please give some documentation. his should be even more interesting than your usual fever dreams.

Kid said...

Duck. G O O G L E.

Learn something. It will do you some good.

Sam Huntington said...

So the question is, how naïve are you Ducky? If the assets are distressed, do you think the people are going to keep their jobs and benefits? The bottom line is this: what are the assets worth? They are worth what people are (a) willing to sell them for, and (b) what people are willing to pay. So tell me, genius … are you suggesting that some government bureaucrat be placed in charge so that he can demand Romney pay twice, or three times the value of the “distressed” asset? I honestly didn’t think you were that stupid … but I can see how you’ve earned the name Nostradumass.

Ducky's here said...

What I would enjoy is a right winger who can refute Marx's theory of diminishing profit, especially in a highly industrialized economy and it's implication to this insane idea that the wealthy are "giving" jobs.

Z said...

Ducky, do you see where anybody's mentioned GIVING jobs?
EVERYBODY here knows jobs don't grow on trees and demand makes profit, though I know you're highly against anybody who makes profits but yourself......
Maybe if more people had JOBS by which they earn money to buy things, they'd make DEMAND? Just a thought.

Where's it start? Chicken or the egg? I'd put my money on the chicken and let the egg work it out for himself.


or something!

Ducky's here said...

What are the assets worth?

Well in the middle of the banking crisis there was no way to know. Mark to market was impossible so high flyers like Mitt just valued junk paper with a random number.

Do you remember the failings of the ratings agencies, Sammy the Wig Sniffer?
Your sense of economics hasn't left the 18th century has it.

Ducky's here said...

... in other words I am stating that in the interest of a functioning market economy the government has a regulatory responsibility.

Even Adam Smith said as much.

You never even moved into the 18th century. Still stuck in mercantilism, Sammy?

I'll expect a response from either you or the always entertaining, kid.

Kid said...

Z, I haven't been around as long as you and maybe he has before, but I see duck now is admitting he is a marxist communist, and of course, hasn't the foggiest idea of how capitalism works to elevate the standard of living where it is employed.

Well duck you're about to find out. The hard way.

Giving jobs? Capitalists hire people. Government 'gives' jobs. May not be the 'job' you want though. Dig? Course not.

Kid said...

duck,explain what "Mitt" had to do with mark to market.

mark to market was all about the worthless mortgage paper held by the banks sucked up and paid for by the entire American population with US Treasuries.

Mitt is no where to be found in that story.

This is the pure definition of insanity. duck, 5 year old kids are smarter than you. I know - I was one once.

By the way. I AM Mitt Romney.

Kid said...

It's like being in a public place and some stupid annoying 4 year old keeps getting in your face spouting nonsense.

It's cute for a little while at best, but then it becomes really annoying and we adults begin looking for the parents to reel the kid back in to their personal space, but the parents don't seem to be around, so we get the manager of the restaurant, or in last resort, call the police to report an annoying unattended child on the loose and please come get him and take him into protective custody.

In this case, we have duck who fits the child profile to a T, but there is no one to call. No relief from the constant din of idiotspeak - if we choose to actually read it. I usually don't. But once again, I'm bored.

So, duck, cast yourself in the role of the totally unsupervised unattended child spouting idiotspeak at full throttle, making a spectacle of yourself at what should be an adult only event.

That's how we all think of you. FWIW....

Z said...

Kid, or should I say MITT,

you "haven't been around as long as" ME? You mean on the blogosphere, DON'T YOU, KID? (smile)
I was about to get my false teeth and cane out! :-)

Ya, Ducky and I've been fighting for nearly 15 years now; it never gets better. :-(

skudrunner said...

Duck,

The government does have regulatory responsibilities but to artificially keep interest rates low so large corporations can borrow cheap money only serves those who can borrow and harms the rest.

Obama is a servant of the rich because they are the ones who financed his election. He is paying them back at the expense of the middle class.

What was his last proposal to increase jobs, obamacare, tax on tanning booths, raising taxes on small business owners.

JonBerg said...

" Marx's theory of diminishing profit"

Is that what happened in the former Soviet Union?

Kid said...

Z, YES ! I was talking about on your blog actually or around the duck more specificaly. ;-)
You cutie. You're not a day over 39.

Z said...

3 days