And I am not too happy about it.
You see, for years, perhaps even decades, around our house we’ve used the acronym YOYO as a gentle and loving reminder that each person is responsible for his or herself: You’re On Your Own – YOYO. It has become an everyday part of our vocabulary. We use it enough that our friends and family know what we mean when we toss out a YOYO.
In fact, it was Tony B who advised me of Hillary’s rueful use of my beloved YOYO. In her Tuesday call for the castration (my word) of mortgage brokers who engage in predatory lending and a $1 billion (with a “B”) bailout of homeowners facing foreclosure, Senator Clinton used my YOYO without my permission:
“They believe in letting everyone fend for him or herself. They believe in what the president calls an ownership society, which is really you’re on-your-own. It’s the yo-yo economy; some go up and some go down and the strings are pulled by other people,” Clinton said, repeating a familiar theme from her campaign speech. “I don’t think that’s how America works best.”
But she got it all wrong. YOYO doesn’t mean that you’re abandoned in the dark, unsafe streets of DC without a gun to defend yourself. YOYO means you are responsible for taking positive steps to move yourself forward or improve your condition. For example, Thursday night is typically YOYO night for dinner at our house. On Thursdays we don’t throw the kids out in the street with no food and no money telling them “you’re on your own.” I guess that’s Hillary’s interpretation of YOYO. But at our house there are any number of opportunites in the pantry and refrigerator awaiting each family member’s creativity. If my son chooses to eat a piece of cold cheese pizza with chocolate sauce on it, so be it. That’s his choice. But it would be incorrect of him to pretend that I had somehow abandoned him after he decided he didn’t like it (it didn’t matter – he liked it). I like mayonaise and jelly sandwiches so I don’t say much about other people’s strange eating habits. It’s the same in America. There are any number of opportunites in this country awaiting each citizen’s creativity. Good grief – a man became a millionaire by putting a cardboard sleeve around a hot cup of coffee.
And I think that’s what an “ownership society” is: owning your choices and owning the consequences. If I buy a house with a variable rate mortgage when mortgage rates are at an all time low (aren’t you supposed to use variable rates when rates are high?), then is it your fault that I tried to buy too much house? Is it your fault when I don’t change the oil in my car and the engine blows up – should you buy me a new car. Is it your fault when I don’t study in class and get a ‘F’ – should we average your ‘A’ and my ‘F’ and we’ll both take a ‘C’? Where does it end?
Senator Clinton derides the “ownership society” and defiles the YOYO with her comments. But I think she’s just selling a different type of “ownership society” – one in which the Government owns everything and we are all just slaves with no responsibility, no creativity, and no YOYOs. She strikes me as more of a “slinky” person.
By the way, How come they always go after mortgage brokers (no, I’m not one)? What about car salespeople? Or unions that take money and then don’t protect their members? Or politicians who ignore their campaign promises? Aren’t there lots of “predators” out there? What ever happened to ‘caveat emptor?’
Photo Credit: Found at Juan Carlos Arriola
