Commencement address at Texas A & M

Interesting speech.

Neal Boortz is a Texan, a lawyer, a Texas AGGIE (Texas A&M), and now
a nationally syndicated talk show host from Atlanta. His commencement
address to the graduates of a recent Texas A&M class is far different from
what either the students or the faculty expected.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~


"I am honored by the invitation to address you on this august
occasion.. It's about time. Be warned, however, that I am not here to
impress you; you'll have enough smoke blown up your bloomers today. And you
can bet your tassels I'm not here to impress the faculty and administration.
You may not like much of what I have to say, and that's fine. You will
remember it though. Especially after about 10 years out there in the real
world. This, it goes without saying, does not apply to those of you who
will seek your careers and your fortunes as government employees.

This gowned gaggle behind me is your faculty. You've heard the old
saying that those who can - do. Those who can't - teach. That sounds
deliciously insensitive. But there is often raw truth in insensitivity,
just as you often find feel-good falsehoods and lies in compassion. Say
good-bye to your faculty because now you are getting ready to go out there
and do. These folks behind me are going to stay right here and teach.

By the way, just because you are leaving this place with a diploma
doesn't mean the learning is over. When an FAA flight examiner handed me my
private pilot's license many years ago, he said, 'Here, this is your ticket
to learn.' The same can be said for your diploma. Believe me, the learning
has just begun.

Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In
fact, you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much.
You feel so much. You want to help so much. After all, you're a
compassionate and caring person, aren't you now? Well, isn't that just so
extraordinarily special. Now, at this age, is as good a time as any to be a
liberal; as good a time as any to know absolutely everything. You have
plenty of time, starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in.

Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath of
reality down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty fast...
including your own assessment of just how much you really know.

So here are the first assignments for your initial class in reality:
Pay attention to the news, read newspapers, and listen to the words and
phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Then, compare the
words of the left to the words and phrases you hear from those evil,
heartless, greedy conservatives. From the Left you will hear "I feel."
>From the Right you will hear "I think." From the Liberals you will hear
references to groups -- The Blacks, the Poor, The Rich, The Disadvantaged,
The Less Fortunate. From the Right you will hear references to individuals.
On the Left you hear talk of group rights; on the Right, individual rights.

That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They
are pack animals whose identity is tied up in group dynamics. Conservatives
think -- and, setting aside the theocracy crowd, their identity is centered
on the individual.

Liberals feel that their favored groups have enforceable rights to
the property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives, I among
them I might add, think that individuals have the right to protect their
lives and their property from the plunder of the masses.

In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely
at your diplomas you will see that they have your individual names on them.
Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity or sorority, but
your name. Your group identity is going away. Your recognition and
appreciation of your individual identity starts now.

If, by the time you reach the age of 30, you do not consider
yourself to be a conservative, rush right back here as quickly as you can
and apply for a faculty position. These people will welcome you with open
arms. They will welcome you, that is, so long as you haven't developed an
individual identity. Once again you will have to be willing to sign on to
the group mentality you embraced during the past four years.

Something is going to happen soon that is going to really open your
eyes. You're going to actually get a full time job!

You're also going to get a lifelong work partner. This partner
isn't going to help you do your job. This partner is just going to sit back
and wait for payday. This partner doesn't want to share in your effort, but
in your earnings.

Your new lifelong partner is actually an agent; an agent
representing a strange and diverse group of people; an agent for every
teenager with an illegitimate child; an agent for a research scientist who
wanted to make some cash answering the age-old question of why monkeys grind
their teeth. An agent for some poor demented hippie who considers herself
to be a meaningful and talented artist, but who just can't manage to sell
any of her artwork on the open market.

Your new partner is an agent for every person with limited, if any,
job skills, but who wanted a job at City Hall. An agent for tin-horn
dictators in fancy military uniforms grasping for American foreign aid. An
agent for multi-million dollar companies who want someone else to pay for
their overseas advertising. An agent for everybody who wants to use the
unimaginable power of this agent's for their personal enrichment and
benefit..

That agent is our wonderful, caring, compassionate, oppressive
government. Believe me, you will be awed by the unimaginable power this
agent has.. Power that you do not have. A power that no individual has, or
will have. This agent has the legal power to use force, deadly force to
accomplish its goals.

You have no choice here. Your new friend is just going to walk up to
you, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fill out, and
move right on in. Say hello to your own personal one ton gorilla. It will
sleep anywhere it wants to.



Now, let me tell you, this agent is not cheap. As you become
successful it will seize about 40% of everything you earn. And no, I'm
sorry, there just isn't any way you can fire this agent of plunder, and you
can't decrease its share of your income. That power rests with him, not
you.

So, here I am saying negative things to you about government. Well,
be clear on this: It is not wrong to distrust government. It is not wrong
to fear government. In certain cases it is not even wrong to despise
government for government is inherently evil. Yes ... a necessary evil, but
dangerous nonetheless...somewhat like a drug. Just as a drug that in the
proper dosage can save your life, an overdose of government can be fatal.

Now let's address a few things that have been crammed into your
minds at this university. There are some ideas you need to expunge as soon
as possible.. These ideas may work well in academic environment, but they
fail miserably out there in the real world.

First is that favorite buzz word of the media and academia:
Diversity! You have been taught that the real value of any group of people -
be it a social group, an employee group, a management group, whatever - is
based on diversity. This is a favored liberal ideal because diversity is
based not on an individual's abilities or character, but on a person's
identity and status as a member of a group. Yes, it's that liberal group
identity thing again.

Within the great diversity movement group identification - be it
racial, gender based, or some other minority status - means more than the
individual's integrity, character or other qualifications.

Brace yourself. You are about to move from this academic atmosphere
where diversity rules, to a workplace and a culture where individual
achievement and excellence actually count. No matter what your professors
have taught you over the last four years, you are about to learn that
diversity is absolutely no replacement for excellence, ability, and
individual hard work. From this day on every single time you hear the word
"diversity" you can rest assured that there is someone close by who is
determined to rob you of every vestige of individuality you possess.

We also need to address this thing you seem to have about "rights."
We have witnessed an obscene explosion of so-called "rights" in the last few
decades, usually emanating from college campuses.

You know the mantra: You have the right to a job. The right to a
place to live. The right to a living wage. The right to health care. The
right to an education. You probably even have your own pet right - the
right to a Beemer for instance, or the right to have someone else provide
for that child you plan on downloading in a year or so.

Forget it. Forget those rights! I'll tell you what your rights
are. You have a right to live free, and to the results of 60% -75% of your
labor. I'll also tell you have no right to any portion of the life or labor
of another.

You may, for instance, think that you have a right to health care.
After all, Hillary said so, didn't she? But you cannot receive healthcare
unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders some of his time - his
life - to you.. He may be willing to do this for compensation, but that's
his choice. You have no "right" to his time or property.. You have no
right to his or any other person's life or to any portion thereof.

You may also think you have some "right" to a job; a job with a
living wage, whatever that is. Do you mean to tell me that you have a right
to force your services on another person, and then the right to demand that
this person compensate you with their money? Sorry, forget it. I am sure
you would scream if some urban outdoorsmen (that would be "homeless person"
for those of you who don't want to give these less fortunate people a
romantic and adventurous title) came to you and demanded his job and your
money.

The people who have been telling you about all the rights you have
are simply exercising one of theirs - the right to be imbeciles. Their
being imbeciles didn't cost anyone else either property or time. It's their
right, and they exercise it brilliantly.

By the way, did you catch my use of the phrase "less fortunate" a
bit ago when I was talking about the urban outdoorsmen? That phrase is a
favorite of the Left. Think about it, and you'll understand why.

To imply that one person is homeless, destitute, dirty, drunk,
spaced out on drugs, unemployable, and generally miserable because he is
"less fortunate" is to imply that a successful person - one with a job, a
home and a future - is in that position because he or she was "fortunate."
The dictionary says that fortunate means "having derived good from an
unexpected place." There is nothing unexpected about deriving good from
hard work. There is also nothing unexpected about deriving misery from
choosing drugs, alcohol, and the street.

If the Liberal Left can create the common perception that success
and failure are simple matters of "fortune" or "luck," then it is easy to
promote and justify their various income redistribution schemes. After all,
we are just evening out the odds a little bit. This "success equals luck"
idea the liberals like to push is seen everywhere.. Former Democratic
presidential candidate Richard Gephardt refers to high-achievers as "people
who have won life's lottery." He wants you to believe they are making the
big bucks because they are lucky. It's not luck, my friends. It's choice.
One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was in a book by Og Mandino,
entitled, "The Greatest Secret in the World." The lesson? Very simple:
"Use wisely your power of choice."

That bum sitting on a heating grate, smelling like a wharf rat? He's
there by choice. He is there because of the sum total of the choices he has
made in his life. This truism is absolutely the hardest thing for some
people to accept, especially those who consider themselves to be victims of
something or other - victims of discrimination, bad luck, the system,
capitalism, whatever. After all, nobody really wants to accept the blame
for his or her position in life. Not when it is so much easier to point and
say, "Look! He did this to me!" than it is to look into a mirror and say,
"You S. O. B.! You did this to me!"

The key to accepting responsibility for your life is to accept the
fact that your choices, every one of them, are leading you inexorably to
either success or failure, however you define those terms.

Some of the choices are obvious: Whether or not to stay in school
Whether or not to get pregnant. Whether or not to hit the bottle. Whether
or not to keep this job you hate until you get another better-paying job.
Whether or not to save some of your money, or saddle yourself with huge
payments for that new car.

Some of the choices are seemingly insignificant: Whom to go to the
movies with. Whose car to ride home in. Whether to watch the tube tonight,
or read a book on investing. But, and you can be sure of this, each choice
counts. Each choice is a building block - some large, some small. But each
one is a part of the structure of your life. If you make the right choices,
or if you make more right choices than wrong ones, something absolutely
terrible may happen to you. Something unthinkable. You, my friend, could
become one of the hated, the evil, the ugly, the feared, the filthy, the
successful, the rich.

The rich basically serve two purposes in this country. First, they
provide the investments, the investment capital, and the brains for the
formation of new businesses. Businesses that hire people. Businesses that
send millions of paychecks home each week to the un-rich.

Second, the rich are a wonderful object of ridicule, distrust, and
hatred. Few things are more valuable to a politician than the envy most
Americans feel for the evil rich.

Envy is a powerful emotion. Even more powerful than the emotional
minefield that surrounded Bill Clinton when he reviewed his last batch of
White House interns. Politicians use envy to get votes and power. And they
keep that power by promising the envious that the envied will be punished:
"The rich will pay their fair share of taxes if I have anything to do with
it." The truth is that the top 10% of income earners in this country pays
almost 50% of all income taxes collected. I shudder to think what these job
producers would be paying if our tax system were any more "fair."

You have heard, no doubt, that the rich get richer and the poor get
poorer. Interestingly enough, our government's own numbers show that many
of the poor actually get richer, and that quite a few of the rich actually
get poorer. But for the rich who do actually get richer, and the poor who
remain poor .. there's an explanation -- a reason. The rich, you see, keep
doing the things that make them rich; while the poor keep doing the things
that make them poor.

Speaking of the poor, during your adult life you are going to hear
an endless string of politicians bemoaning the plight of the poor. So, you
need to know that under our government's definition of "poor" you can have a
$5 million net worth, a $300,000 home and a new $90,000 Mercedes, all
completely paid for. You can also have a maid, cook, and valet, and a
million in your checking account, and you can still be officially defined by
our government as "living in poverty." Now there's something you haven't
seen on the evening news.

How does the government pull this one off? Very simple, really. To
determine whether or not some poor soul is "living in poverty," the
government measures one thing -- just one thing. Income.

It doesn't matter one bit how much you have, how much you own, how
many cars you drive or how big they are, whether or not your pool is heated,
whether you winter in Aspen and spend the summers in the Bahamas, or how
much is in your savings account. It only matters how much income you claim
in that particular year. This means that if you take a one-year leave of
absence from your high-paying job and decide to live off the money in your
savings and checking accounts while you write the next great American novel,
the government says you are 'living in poverty."

This isn't exactly what you had in mind when you heard these gloomy
statistics, is it? Do you need more convincing? Try this. The
government's own statistics show that people who are said to be "living in
poverty" spend more than $1.50 for each dollar of income they claim.
Something is a bit fishy here. Just remember all this the next time Charles
Gibson tells you about some hideous new poverty statistics.

Why has the government concocted this phony poverty scam? Because
the government needs an excuse to grow and to expand its social welfare
programs, which translates into an expansion of its power. If the
government can convince you, in all your compassion, that the number of
"poor" is increasing, it will have all the excuse it needs to sway an
electorate suffering from the advanced stages of Obsessive-Compulsive
Compassion Disorder.

I'm about to be stoned by the faculty here. They've already changed
their minds about that honorary degree I was going to get. That's OK,
though. I still have my PhD. in Insensitivity from the Neal Boortz
Institute for Insensitivity Training. I learned that, in short, sensitivity
sucks. It's a trap. Think about it - the truth knows no sensitivity. Life
can be insensitive. Wallow too much in sensitivity and you'll be unable to
deal with life, or the truth, so get over it.

Now, before the dean has me shackled and hauled off, I have a few
random thoughts.

* You need to register to vote, unless you are on welfare. If you
are living off the efforts of others, please do us the favor of sitting down
and shutting up until you are on your own again.

* When you do vote, your votes for the House and the Senate are more
important than your vote for President. The House controls the purse
strings, so concentrate your awareness there.

* Liars cannot be trusted, even when the liar is the President of
the country. If someone can't deal honestly with you, send them packing.

* Don't bow to the temptation to use the government as an instrument
of plunder. If it is wrong for you to take money from someone else who
earned it -- to take their money by force for your own needs -- then it is
certainly just as wrong for you to demand that the government step forward
and do this dirty work for you.

* Don't look in other people's pockets. You have no business there.
What they earn is theirs. What you earn is yours. Keep it that way..
Nobody owes you anything, except to respect your privacy and your rights,
and leave you the hell alone.

* Speaking of earning, the revered 40-hour workweek is for losers.
Forty hours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don't see
highly successful people clocking out of the office every afternoon at five.
The losers are the ones caught up in that afternoon rush hour. The winners
drive home in the dark.

* Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech,
by definition, needs no protection.

* Finally (and aren't you glad to hear that word), as Og Mandino
wrote,

"1. Proclaim your rarity. Each of you is a rare and unique human
being.

2. Use wisely your power of choice.

3. Go the extra mile .. drive home in the dark.

Oh, and put off buying a television set as long as you can. Now, if
you have any idea at all what's good for you, you will get the hell out of
here and never come back.

Class dismissed"

Hold on a cotton-picking second. Boortz thinks the faculty, administration, and student body of Texas A&M have a liberal bias? Really? Does he remember that Phil Gramm was a professor there? That the administration lobbied for the Bush Presidential library and the city of College Station changed the name of Jersey Drive to George Bush Drive before they even got the library? That the university produces more military officers than any school outside of West Point? That Robert Gates left the position of TAMU president to become W's Secretary of Defense? And he thinks it's a liberal bastion? Sounds like he's the one that needs the reality check. Heck, he probably would've qualified politically as a pinko Commie-sympathizer if they had surveyed the auditorium.

I think he was mostly talking about the professors. In my experience most of my professors that I had in college are liberals. A&M may be a more conservative university than most others, but I am willing to bet that most the professors are liberal.

Maybe in the College of Liberal Arts, but at TAMU, I don't think that would be a "gimme" among the faculty in the Colleges of Engineering, Business, Agriculture, Geosciences, the Vet school or the Bush School of Government.

You people should fact check stuff like this before you post it. While it is true he wrote those words, they've never been delivered in a speech.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/boortz.asp

Maybe in the College of Liberal Arts, but at TAMU, I don't think that would be a "gimme" among the faculty in the Colleges of Engineering, Business, Agriculture, Geosciences, the Vet school or the Bush School of Government. Originally Posted by Carl

You do realize that they offer Business/Engineering/ and Government at UT as well. My Government teacher I had at a very conservative school is a liberal. What a better place to indoctrinate students on liberal views than at a conservative university. I did not know that he was a liberal until after election day in 1994 he was very disappointed in the outcome. TAMU is accepts government funding just like all public universities.

You people should fact check stuff like this before you post it. While it is true he wrote those words, they've never been delivered in a speech.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/boortz.asp Originally Posted by BigGerman

I did not think it was actually said at a commencement. I am sure they would have turned off the mic.

I did not think it was actually said at a commencement. I am sure they would have turned off the mic. Originally Posted by Wyldeman30

So, you fully admit then to taking something off of the internet somewhere, without ever once questioning it's authenticity or source and then reposted it here for what? To prove once and for all just how gullible you really are?

Once called out on your bullshit you then have the audacity to tell us,

"I did not think it was actually said at a commencement. I am sure they would have turned off the mic."

Essentially confirming you personally thought it was so terrible and such a complete fraud it wasn't worth posting, yet you thought so little of us that you chose to post it anyway...wasting precious minutes of the lives here who chose to read it.

You Sir are truly amazing.

Well, if Perry can do it ...

So, you fully admit then to taking something off of the internet somewhere, without ever once questioning it's authenticity or source and then reposted it here for what? Do you really need to source someones thoughts and views??? To prove once and for all just how gullible you really are? The guy did say it the joke was that it was said at a commencement.

Once called out on your bullshit you then have the audacity to tell us,

"I did not think it was actually said at a commencement. I am sure they would have turned off the mic."

Essentially confirming you personally thought it was so terrible and such a complete fraud it wasn't worth posting, yet you thought so little of us that you chose to post it anyway...wasting precious minutes of the lives here who chose to read it.

I am sure that conservatives will understand it...I am also sure that public workers and professors will find that truth hurts. I am sure the only negative response will be from the ones that it hits home with the most. (staff edit; ztonk)

You Sir are truly amazing.
Originally Posted by F-Sharp

It is not fraud dude. It is a well thought out perspective of the real world aimed at college graduates. The joke is that it happened at a actual university commencement. This is the sand box buddy no need to keep slinging mud just because you do not agree with something.

So every post you make on this thread will just make everyone think truth hurts those that resemble what was addressed in this post.

It is not fraud dude. It is a well thought out perspective of the real world aimed at college graduates. Originally Posted by Wyldeman30

It's idiotic at best, libel at worst. Nothing but a warped and delusional view of liberals that people like Boortz uses to sell books to the uninformed and advertising space for his radio show. I bet he's big with the Tea Party crowd.

I do give him credit for one thing. At least he knows who holds the purse strings in this country.

You do realize that they offer Business/Engineering/ and Government at UT as well. My Government teacher I had at a very conservative school is a liberal. What a better place to indoctrinate students on liberal views than at a conservative university. I did not know that he was a liberal until after election day in 1994 he was very disappointed in the outcome. TAMU is accepts government funding just like all public universities. Originally Posted by Wyldeman30

And you do realize that it's unlikely that profoundly politically liberal faculty would choose stay and live in an environment where their off-campus day-to-day life, raising children, dealing with neighbors, felt frustrating and inhospitable. If a professor has a job offer at TAMU, they pretty much know what their non-academic life will be and if feel uncomfortable about it, they will not take it, or if they take it due to certain life circumstances, they will take the next best offer to get the hell out. Universities do have problems with retention of faculty when their hires are not happy with non-academic "quality of life" issues. That happens with some frequency.

It is not fraud dude. It is a well thought out perspective of the real world aimed at college graduates. The joke is that it happened at a actual university commencement. This is the sand box buddy no need to keep slinging mud just because you do not agree with something.

So every post you make on this thread will just make everyone think truth hurts those that resemble what was addressed in this post. Originally Posted by Wyldeman30

If you read the snopes article, the joke actually is that he DIDN'T say it at a commencement speech, ever, anywhere. Boortz read it on his radio show and put it in a book he wrote, in mock protest over never having been invited to give a commencement address.

I did not think it was actually said at a commencement. I am sure they would have turned off the mic. Originally Posted by Wyldeman30

Wylde, If in fact you truly believed the above why did you preface your post with the following:

Interesting speech.

Neal Boortz is a Texan, a lawyer, a Texas AGGIE (Texas A&M), and now
a nationally syndicated talk show host from Atlanta. His commencement
address to the graduates of a recent Texas A&M class is far different from
what either the students or the faculty expected. Originally Posted by Wyldeman30

The above is a direct quote from your first post. You did not include in your preface remarks that you did not personally feel the speech was actually made at the commencement. You clearly stated it was an "interesting speech" and that it was "his commencement address to the graduates of a recent ..........is far different from what either the students or faculty expected."

I am left to conclude that you purposely tried to deceive us.

YOU'VE BEEN BUSTED!!!!!

Wylde, If in fact you truly believed the above why did you preface your post with the following:

That is funny.



The above is a direct quote from your first post. You did not include in your preface remarks that you did not personally feel the speech was actually made at the commencement. You clearly stated it was an "interesting speech" and that it was "his commencement address to the graduates of a recent ..........

LOL

I am left to conclude that you were either gullible enough to believe this horse caca or you purposely tried to deceive the readers.

No deception.LMAO

In simpler terms, you are you either a gullible fool or you were trying your best to deceive us. Which one is it? Originally Posted by bigtex

Gullible that is rich!