A young woman was about to finish her last year of college. Like so many
others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat and
she
was for the distribution of all wealth. She felt deeply ashamed that her
father was a rather staunch Republican, which she told him openly.
One day, she was challenging her father on his beliefs and his opposition
to
higher taxes on the rich and more welfare programs. In the middle of her
heart-felt diatribe based upon the lectures she had from her far left
professors at school, he stopped her and asked her point blank, "How are
you
doing in school?" She answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 grade
point average. She let her father know that it was tough to maintain. She
said she had to study all the time, never had time to go out and party like
other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend and didn't
really have many college friends because of spending all of her time
studying. She said she was taking a more difficult curriculum than others
in
school.
Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend, Mary?" She
replied, "Mary is barely getting by." She continued, "All she has is barely
a 2.0 GPA," adding, "and all she takes are easy classes and she never
studies." But to explain further, she continued emotionally, "But Mary is
so
popular on campus, college for her is a blast. She goes to all the parties
all the time and very often doesn't even show up for classes because she is
too hung over."
Her father then asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office
and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your 4.0 GPA and give it to your friend Mary
who only has a 2.0 GPA?" He continued, "That way, you will both have a 3.0
GPA and certainly that would be a fair equal distribution of the grade
points." The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily
fired back, "That wouldn't be fair! I worked really hard for mine. I did
without and Mary has done little or nothing. She played while I worked
really hard!"
The father slowly smiled and said, "Welcome to the Republican Party."