Individual giving sounds like liberty to me - Editorial

(Another old Belgrade News editorial from Tuesday, August 24, 2004)


(With thanks to Walter E. Williams) One of the most important rights we possess as a free people is the right to own property. It is a major distinguishing feature of liberty, for if one cannot own property, one cannot possess the right to enjoy the fruits of one’s own labors.

Property ownership includes your land, your stuff, and your pay. But consider: Your paycheck is always considerably less than what you are supposed to be paid. The government takes money from your pay before you even cash your check. Government sets the terms for this transaction, with or without your consent. Therefore, your pay is not what you have earned, it is what the government has decided to allow you to keep.

Government takes money from some and gives it to others to whom it doesn’t belong. This takes many forms, like Social Security, food stamps, welfare, corporate welfare, farm subsidies and bailouts. If the definition of slavery is forcing one person to serve the purposes of another person, then workers are slaves to the government master. It also is theft, in that the money is taken without regard for the opinion of the individual.

There are some among us might respond that this all came about by the democratic process and is quite legal, even desirable. But legality is no guide to morality. An evil act does not become moral simply because there’s been a majority vote. There are many things that have been legal but nonetheless were immoral. Slavery was legal, but it was not moral. South Africa’s apartheid, the Stalinist and Maoist purges, and the Nazi extermination of Jews with the confiscation of their wealth were all quite legal, but were nevertheless immoral.

Some others would cite the “general welfare” clause of the Constitution. Doesn’t Congress have the authority to ensure the general welfare of the nation? Yes, but this much-abused clause does not give them a blank check.

James Madison explained, “With respect to the two words ‘general welfare’, I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them ...”.

Thomas Jefferson said, “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”

In Federalist Paper No. 45, James Madison wrote, “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected.”

I’ve also spent some time reading the Bible, and I’m pretty sure that the commandment “Thou shalt not steal” does not mean “Thou shalt not steal unless there’s a majority vote.”

And I feel safe in saying that receiving stolen property (that is, the money taken by government from someone else and given to you) is equally wrong.

It would be easy to blame one political party for this, but unfortunately for us, both Republicans and Democrats support this activity. Many Republicans support taking the earnings of Americans and giving them to farmers, banks, airlines and other failing businesses. Many Democrats support taking the earnings of Americans and giving them to poor people, cities and artists. Both agree on taking one person’s earnings to give to another; they simply differ on the recipients.

However, I want do to be very clear: Charity, compassion, and mercy are noble human attributes. But theft and slavery, whether legalized or not, are evil. Or, to put another way, reaching into one’s own pocket to assist his fellow man is noble and worthy of praise. Reaching into another person’s pocket to assist one’s fellow man is wrong and worthy of prosecution and jail time.

So what should we do? If the government did not help the poor and the sick, what would happen to them? Well, compassion belongs to individual humans, not government bureaucrats. And Americans have shown we are up to the task, for despite the government draining 45 percent of the earnings of workers every single year, Americans are still by far the most generous people on the planet.

So, each individual, moved in his heart to help his fellow man, and unchained from servitude to government priorities, will have the resources to give even more generously, in an amount, at the time, and in the manner they choose.

That sounds like liberty to me.