Victims, vikings and villains, oh my

Ramblings of a Conservative Cow Doctor

A few weeks back, a caller to the Dave Ramsey Show declared, “You can be a victim or a Viking.” After initially buying the lie he was a victim, the caller became a Viking and paid off his debt, shredded his credit cards, lived on less than he earned and built wealth by saving and investing. It is a success story repeated daily across America. The victim or Viking adage perfectly describes today’s political arena if we add a third category, villains, and here is why.

Progressivism is founded on greed and covetousness. The ruling class garners power by cultivating a large population of victims convinced they are entitled to the bounty produced by others. Today’s colleges and universities have become victim factories. Brainwash students a college degree guarantees success, enroll them in angry women studies, grant them unlimited student loans and in eight years they emerge as hopeless victims completely dependent on the ruling class. They reflexively blame their pathetic plight on wealthy, heterosexual, racist, sexist, bigoted capitalists and climate change. With unsustainable debt, zero job skills and a non-existent work ethic they only leave their parent’s basement to attend Antifa rallies or commiserate with colleagues at Starbucks. These victims are the new Socialist Democrats swooning over Bernie Sanders freebies.

Like the Dave Ramsey caller, the day will come when some of these folks discover they have been scammed. They will get a real job shoveling concrete, driving nails, felling timber or punching cows and little by little they will eliminate their debt, build wealth and thereby free themselves from victimhood. When they do, they become Vikings who then vote Republican.

This brings us to the third political category, the villains. Unlike shooting oneself in the foot and being a victim or choosing to climb society’s ladder as a Viking, villains are assigned their status by progressive elitists and media propagandists. Villains have the audacity of living the dream and publicly proclaiming their conservative, Christian beliefs and leftists must silence them before other victims become Vikings. Success is infectious. Villains are expected to endure threats and abuse without protest; a wimpy characteristic common across the GOP until Donald Trump burst onto the scene. President Trump does not turn-the-other-cheek, so he is incessantly attacked as deserving impeachment. Collectivist victims are blinded by their rage at those who have escaped the dependency plantation, and this brings me to my point. In politics, just as in personal finance, you can be a victim or Viking. The choice is yours.