From Each According to His Ability

On the RUFF discussion group, Errol wrote,

"Come on folks, don't you believe that, as a society, we have a responsibility to take care of the children, the infirm, our old people and those that can't take care of themselves? If we can't do that directly, then it behooves us to put a government in place that will do it for us."


Errol,

We are doing just what you advocate. Twelve years of free schooling, free emergency room care, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps, free parks, free transportation for the poor, senior lunches, public housing, etc. etc. Nobody starves in this country.

No. I don't believe I have a responsibility to take care of someone else. Should you have the power to define my responsibility to people I do not know? If you believe you have a responsibility to take care of someone you do not know, as millions like you believe, why do you have to be forced to do so? Can't all of you do it voluntarily?

I do agree that compassion and charity is an important component of the proper life of an individual, and a culture. We all interact with each other by; charity, trade, or force. If you are advocating force to make me take care of someone who may be a parasite on the common good, then I disagree. I prefer charity and trade.

If you divided up all the assets in the country equally, a few generations from now there would be "haves and have nots". Many of the have nots would have spent their share on vices, and the haves would have been the recipients of those pleasurable expenditures.

I know some old people who worried and saved, and some old people who partied like there is no tomorrow. Should the person who worried and saved be "responsible" for the ones who partied? Whether they should or not, the group, through forced confiscation of property, does just what you advocate. Still, this does not seem to be enough for many feel good humanitarians. They never stop feeling guilty. They always need to control the lives of others in order to feel good about themselves. When humanitarians want to control you for the "common good", hold on tightly to your wallet and liberty. The attempt to do good is a subtle attempt to rule.

Throughout history the communistic instinct has always been rampant in groups. From small communist tribes to verses in the Bible.
All that believed were together, and had all things in common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. (Acts 2:44-45)

For thousands of years groups have looked to some authority to take care of them. This authority has been in the form of some Pharaoh, God, or Despot, or collective farm. All of these cultures perished because they could not feed their people.

Our democracy that was created to provide individual rights and responsibility for individual choices is no different. Just listening to the exhortation for collectivism means the group mentality is strong in us. We all believe we will be safer in a group. Once in the group we all try to get more from the group than we put in. If the group has the power to provide for us, the group also has the power to make us miserable.

You and Gary will get your universal health coverage. The collective group wants it. That program, like ERISA and war, has unseen consequence. Be careful what you wish for. All cultures that have "group think", like Arab Islam and Russian Communism, all retard the progress of mankind.

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need", is a siren song that should be avoided. It turns people with ability, into people who are needy.

Bilbo Baggins