Posted on 03/23/2004 3:13:12 AM PST by JohnHuang2
The origin of legal theft
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
And the serpent said unto the woman, "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4-5)
Since the beginning of time, people have been drawn to the emotion of being a victim. Valid or not, that emotion appeals to the belief: you have more than I do, thus I have been wronged I am a victim. In the Garden, the snake appealed to Eve's emotion: God is keeping you from your potential, but when you eat of this, you will be like God.
Of course, that sense of envy and coveting is natural from the youngest age, with children fighting over who gets the biggest and best toy. That attitude is natural in all children, in all societies and always has been young children are above all the most selfish.
Still, a stable society holds standards that require immaturity to yield to personal responsibility for individuals to participate in respected positions, as a child grows into an adult.
Unfortunately, in recent years, this immaturity has been allowed nay, exalted in society. Beginning with the baby boom generation that challenged every standard possible through the sexual revolution and political activism of the '60s and '70s, immaturity has dominated.
That childish view of "I'm going to do whatever I want, whenever I want" prevailed in the '60s and '70s and became elevated to a worldview through the political activism of that generation. As the irresponsibility of that generation affected the culture and politics of that era, it also eroded the morality of America.
Priorities changed from the self-governing importance of God, family and country to the selfishness of plunder. With plunder defined as "seizing and consuming the products of the labor of others," French economist and politician Frederic Bastiat wrote "The Law" in 1850, describing the process of socialism:
The law is made by one man or one class of men. And since law cannot operate without the sanction and support of a dominating force, this force must be entrusted to those who make the laws.This fact, combined with the fatal tendency that exists in the heart of man to satisfy his wants with the least possible effort, explains the almost universal perversion of the law. Thus it is easy to understand how law, instead of checking injustice, becomes the invincible weapon of injustice.
Therefore, as the laziness and immaturity of a people lead to the use of government for plunder, plunder that was once illegal becomes legal under the color of law. Bastiat continues:
But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.Now, legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wages, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit, and so on and so on. All these plans as a whole with their common aim of legal plunder constitute socialism.
This was an evil that Bastiat described in the 19th century. Through the acceptance and exaltation of the immaturity of recent generations, this evil has wrought American socialism.
As this childishness of the baby boom generation invaded government through the legal plunder of socialism, public conversation also severely deteriorated. The chronic immaturity of the voter base made emotion one of the main, deciding factors of the success of a campaign.
Thus, as the electorate has declined into the mindset of childish emotion, politicians have become the immature and unprincipled parents.
John Kerry is a prime example of the immature parent in his waffling indecision. Appealing wholly to emotion, he's taking the easiest route toward the presidency. Kerry is just like the parent who, on the one hand, desires to please a child by not taking principled stands, but on the other hand, also desires to avoid sacrifice, leading to no principles at all.
This has been the degradation of our society and public discourse, aggravated further by the entertainment of present-day media. The decision makers who were once expected to take principled, patriotic stands have now retreated to the emotional instability of a teenager, coupled with a lust for power.
A prophet of Israel once declared, "Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child." The same could be said to America.
How prescient Bastiat was. And look, why, all of these have come to pass, right here in the United States of America.
What an awkward, muddled sentence ... the worst among many that could be mentioned. Yes, his heart is in the right place, but BOOS to his mom for letting him get away with this. I'm guessing his English curriculum didn't include diagramming.
Kyle, you've got potential. Go spend a year studying the collected speeches of Alan Keyes, or the writings of Thomas Sowell, and then come back and impress me with worthwhile observations AND composition skills.
Okay, Alan Keyes might be perfect, but generally speaking....
Amazon does not keep copies in stock, but the Foundation for Economic Educationwww.fee.orgdoes. Below is their promotional blurb:
Ideas on Liberty columnist Russell Roberts calls The Law [p]henomenal! An amazing and timeless treatment of the cost of using government to solve problems. One FEE customer bought 10,000 copies to give away. Why? Because The Law expertly analyzes governments propensity to abuse power and destroy liberty. This slim volume is a real classicelegant and enduring, with the power to change the way people view the political process. (No wonder FEE has sold well over 500,000 copies!)
With an introduction by noted economist Walter E. Williams, and a foreword by Ideas on Liberty editor Sheldon Richman, The Law may be the single most essential of our essential library books. No one who loves liberty should be without it.
I'm sure it's hard to strike the right balance. If Kyle Williams' columns were polished enough to satisfy strict editors' eyes, then homeschool skeptics would claim his parents had written the columns for him.
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