Prickly City by Scott Stantis for April 30, 2019

You vote to pay extra taxes so the residents of one of the poorest counties in the country can have health care and they vote for the gubernatorial candidate who promises to kill the program.

Empathy died of 1000 slaps in the face,

And what’s happened to apathy?

Empathy takes time and you have to surrender a bit of yourself ( realizing you aren’t the center of the universe). Can’t have that in an Ayn Rand inspired world-view.

Let’s see, pick your slogan: “Do your own thing”. “I got rights”. “Be kind to yourself.” “Win or go home.” “You’re not the boss of me.” While correctly applied these can be useful in a difficult world, they are largely abused to gain advantage over others. Not a recipe for empathy.

Empathy requires identification with another being; there’s lots of empathy right now for those poor, mistreated, victimized, overtaxed, millionaires who are suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous good fortune.

We don’t need empathy.

We have ‘compassionate conservatism’.