Late Night With Conan O'Brien: P.J. O'Rourke Interview (1998)

Source:Lalarikyu- Political humorist and comedian P.J. O'Rourke, being interviewed by Conan O'Brien in 1998.

"PJ O'Rourke interview. September 25th, 1998."

From Lalarikyu

Imagine trying to live in America and then trying to following American politics without a sense of humor, actually try living in America without a sense of humor by itself and all of the garbage (to put it mildly) that we have to see and put up with.

But just to talk about American politics, try following and keeping up with that without a sense of humor. We would probably be a country of Michele Bachmann's and Michael Moore's. Not just a nutty country, but a country of nuts. It would be heaven only for squirrels, but in actuality a country of mental patients and hell for everyone else.

If you can't laugh at American politics especially with a lot of things that government does, you have to pay for it, you'll be in hell all of your life and never be able to laugh at anything, because you would have no sense of humor.

I agree with P.J. O'Rourke about eating the rich. If you want people to be successful in life and not live in poverty, then you need to incentivize them to be. And not take most of their money away from them when they are successful. Good parents at least don't punish their kids when they get good grades.

Good parents don't say: "god dammit Joey (or Sally)! What the hell are you doing getting straight A's (or mostly A's and some B)? What are you trying to do, go to college and get a good job so you can move away from your mother and father?" They encourage them to do that and incentivize them to keep it up and if anything do even better.

Well, similar to people who are rich and financially successful. Instead of putting Uncle Sam's big fat greedy hand down a wealthy woman or man's pocket and take that money from them to people who need food stamps just to eat, we say being financially successful is a good thing and we want more people to be rich, not less.

Now socialist parents might say to Joey or Sally or DeAndre or Laquisha: (you know whoever it might be) "God dammit! What the hell are you thinking getting great grades? What are you trying to do, go to college or something and not have to live off of the welfare state like your mom and dad?" Because Socialists tend not to like individualism, self-determination others ways of saying freedom. They like collectivism and that no one should be so free that people don't need others, meaning government in order to take care of themselves.

Which is why Socialists slap the hands of rich people with a whip so they never want to make another dollar on their own and want government to take care of them instead. We should encourage people to be successful in school and in life, including adults who haven't made it yet and empower them to finish their education. So we have more successful people and not less. And more parents who praise their kids for doing real well in school and gotten themselves a good education themselves so their kids can just focus on getting a good education as well.

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