It's not "give a fish vs. teach to fish"

I'd like to be more bipartisan, and I try all the time — because the right gets it Right a lot. They're right to want to say "get up and do something about your life," because at some point it comes down to each of us individually. At some point we've got to decide to climb a little higher if we're going to leave life better than we came in. The Right says TEACH a man to fish.

The Left gets it right too though. Not everyone can make that first step. Some people are born into a situation where they're first step is booby-trapped. For some people it's not just a first step, but a leap like Batman made to get out of the pit in The Dark Knight Rises — and it took Batman more than one try by the way. The Left says GIVE a man a fish.

So I'd like to be bipartisan. But the fact is that the choice isn't between GIVE a fish or TEACH to fish. If that was the choice then you'd find me on the Right.

The fact is that the Left is filling a need when they're giving a man a fish and the right isn't teaching anyone to fish. Some people do, don't get me wrong; some people are really helping people get out of where they came from by teaching them everything they know about fishing. Some people do, but that's not the Right, it's just people, and it's too few people.

The Left, through programs and welfare are filling the need of giving people that first fish, that first leg up. Sure they don't do a good job of the follow-up and absolutely necessary teaching about fishing. But no one is doing a good job there, and the Right isn't offering that as an alternate choice.

The Right says get rid of welfare, but doesn't offer to replace it with an option. That's ridiculous. It's stupid. And it's neglectful. The people who need welfare in order to some day climb out of their situation then have no fish and no fishing rod and no knowledge about the secret fishing spots that many of us take for common knowledge.

So it's not "give a fish vs. teach a fish." The choice I see offered to the American people is "give a fish vs. keep the fish for ourselves and hopefully a few of our teachers out there devote their lives to finding and teaching our at-risk populations as much about fishing as they can on their own dime."

Neither is perfect, but at least we're doing something when we offer that first bit of good will.