Reality - The House Always Wins

Yesterday I had a conversation with a young idealist who considers himself to be a conservative. He told me that he's not in favor of the stimulus package in theory, but that "he's a realist - and people are in trouble out there and we have to do something about it."

Unfortunately time did not allow me to respond to his statement quite as fully as I would have liked. I would have liked to tell him:

A true realist would, in fact, be vehemently opposed to the bill precisely because it is an open and abhorrent denial of reality. The reason that people, and businesses, are in trouble, is because they have made choices which conflicted with reality. They had expectations which were unrealistic; they chose to take risks which did not pay off. In his own way, each person who got himself into an adjustable loan, or purchased a house that was worth less than he thought it would be, gambled against reality and lost.

Reality is not a bailout. Reality is not a social safety net. Reality is not pulling out Daddy's credit card when you break a nail.

Reality is, forgetting to pay your electricity bill means the power company will cut off your heat in the middle of winter. Reality is, paying your bills late means you'll find it's hard to get a loan down the road. Reality is, sleeping through an exam earns you an F. Reality is, you'll burn your hand if you touch a hot curling iron. Reality is, sex leads to pregnancy leads to children and your life is changed forever. Reality is, talking smack about someone means you'll lose your friends. Reality is, texting while driving kills people. Reality is, if your grades drop you'll get kicked out of school. Reality is, losing your temper and smacking your pop star girlfriend around means she'll break up with you. Reality is, spending all your money leaves you broke. Reality is, if you forget to feed your fish they die.

When you lose sight of reality, you can find yourself spending seven hundred billion dollars on dog parks.

And as for those folks who didn't forget what reality is, but chose to take calculated risks against the odds: they are those who deserve a bailout the least. Gambling against reality is a dangerous game. Because the reality is, the house always wins.

You can tell me you think it's my social duty to bail out those who made bad choices, or you can tell me you think this is the lesser evil, and I'll simply disagree with you. But don't tell me that you support the bailout because you're a realist - the bailout is nothing but a denial of reality.

Reality is, actions have consequences.