During my commutes through rural Ontario, I have often seen two different signs that bug me because of their economic ignorance (and their whiney begging). The first, "Farmers Feed Cities" is one I have posted about before.
The second says "If you ate today, thank a farmer."
Why?
Why should I thank people who, acting to maximize their own utility, provide me with something I am willing to pay for? I would much rather thank "the invisible hand" of Adam Smith. I would much rather thank the private property rights system that provides incentives for people to produce so much food so inexpensively. I would much rather thank the common law system that enforces contracts made between willing individuals seeking gains from trade.
But I feel no particular sense of gratitude for the work done by people who think I owe them something more than they get from the market. And I especially feel no particular sense of gratitude toward those who think the gubmnt should subsidize their lifestyle.
And, needless to say, I have no political aspirations in this rural, farming community.
Addendum: Phil Miller has a good follow-up:
Turning the logic around, because of the ethanol subsidies received by farmers, you could also rightly add "If you paid high prices for your food and beer today, thank a farmer."And Sparky has even more:
What motivates all of them is the desire to earn a living, to trade with people they do not know. The growth of our standard of living depends in great part on being able to trade not with just the people you know but those you don't, not out of friendship or love but one's own self-interest. The institutions that develop to permit this, and to widen that circle of strangers, are what we collectively call "the market".