An extensive survey by the Pew Research Center found that three out of four Republicans believe that people can get ahead by working hard. Four out of five believe that everyone has the power to succeed. But Democrats have much less faith in the value of hard work. Only 14 percent believe that people can get ahead by working hard, according to the survey. And only 44 percent believe that everyone has the power to succeed. This is not a case of 'rich' Republicans believing one thing and 'poor' Democrats another. Even when you compare Republicans and Democrats of the same income, the gap still exists.

John Eberhard

This isn't really surprising news. Based on behavior, liberals want to redistribute success, and conservatives want to earn it for themselves. (Quick question: would the discrepancy be more pronounced if respondents to the survey had identified as liberal or conservative instead of Democrat or Republican?) The real question we need to ask ourselves is why.

My father has had to work with Muslims on business. One of the things he told me is that Muslims don't believe in planning ahead or working hard or otherwise doing things of their own initiative. They wait on Allah's will to give them success. They believe that what will happen will happened, regardless of what they do. They don't believe in cause and effect.

Liberals seem very much in the same mindset. They have replaced Allah with random chance, but they still deny that their actions have a relation to their circumstances, success or failure. This is a very irrational position, as it accepts that other people can affect your circumstances, but you have no affect on your circumstances. I really don't understand why someone would want to place himself in a position of helplessness.

But I do know why I work hard. One, I work hard because God has made me a steward of His creation. I am responsible for my little bit of it and want to do well by it in God's eyes. This is called the Protestant work ethic. The second reason I work hard is so that I can gain the various luxuries that make life more enjoyable, from my own home, an over sized TV, or the ability to travel to far off locales. This is called the American Dream.

Hat Tip: Conservative Grapevine