Liberals are, essentially, thieves
I’ve always believed Walter Williams to be brilliant and his latest column, Compassion vs. Reality reinforces that impression. Explaining in his clear, concise style with irrefutable logic he exposes the truth of government enforced redistribution of wealth. He says:
“The government can say, “Williams, you don’t have to serve your fellow man; through our tax code, we’ll take what he produces and give it to you.” Of course, if I were to privately take what my fellow man produced, we’d call it theft. The only difference is when the government does it, that theft is legal but nonetheless theft — the taking of one person’s rightful property to give to another.”
How true. He continues by noting that “liberals often denounce free markets as immoral. The reality is exactly the opposite. Free markets, characterized by peaceable, voluntary exchange, with respect for property rights and the rule of law, are more moral than any other system of resource allocation.”
Sadly, liberals have no respect for the voluntary exchange of resources, property rights, or the capitalistic system itself which has lifted millions of people out of poverty. Essentially, they are thieves willing to steal to gratify their immediate need of self-congratulation or to indulge their need to feel guilt for something. These needs are met by spending other people’s money to help those who have not worked to rightfully obtain goods and services on their own.
Liberals are, therefore, essentially thieves. Oh, they mean well but theft by any other name is still theft.
June 7th, 2007 at 11:26 am
So liberals are thieves, eh? I thought the description for this blog said there would be fresh insights…yawn.
June 7th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
You only got one point wrong. They don’t mean well.
And my guess is that Deb didn’t read past the title.
June 7th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
The “logic” that taxation equals theft is certainly refutable, and easily so.
If the majority of Americans agreed that taxation were theft, they obviously would elect libertarians and anti-government radicals similar to the author of this blog. Yet in election after election this does not happen. The logical question, therefore, is: How can we be accused of robbing ourselves? That is an absurdity. I might also point out the obvious tidbit that thieves do not return goods and services to their victims the way government does to its citizens (as per the desire of the voters).
One only has to examine the polling data to see that the majority of Americans do favor progressive taxation and feel the wealthy should be taxed more heavily. I would refer everyone to the Gallup Poll conducted April 2-5 of 2007 which showed that 66% of Americans feel the “Upper-income people” are taxed “too little” and only 9% think they were taxed “too much.” Here is a link to a Gallup News Service article “Americans More in Favor of Heavily Taxing Rich Now Than in 1939″: http://www.galluppoll.com/content/Default.aspx?ci=27208
As for the alleged liberal disrespect “for the voluntary exchange of resources, property rights, or the capitalistic system itself which has lifted millions of people out of poverty,” I think that needs to be put into perspective. I quote Professor G. William Domhoff:
“In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2001, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 33.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 51%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 84%, leaving only 16% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth, the top 1% of households had an even greater share: 39.7%.”
Is that not remarkable? Twenty percent of Americans hold 84% of the wealth! Would it not be fair to ask upon whose hard-working backs these “upper crust” elite stand?
June 7th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
The real logic that what I earn belongs to me is not refutable. Basic taxes for roads, a military, and a few other things - as I have gone over and over and over with you - is fine. Taking my money and giving it to others is not- it never has been and it never will be. It may be legal, but that is still theft- period.
And no, one cannot rob ones self- but ones self can be robbed by others.
And poll’s, poll’s, poll’s! So what- poll’s are only as good as the people that are a part of them. Ask ignorant people if government should take care of them and they will say yes.
As to Professor G. William Domhoff, so what? I earn a small salary- and nobody stands on my back. I have a mortgage, barely make ends meet, and it’s not the people who provide me with my job that I blame that I don’t have more. It’s government that I blame because if I had just half of all they take from me I would be able to invest, my house would already be paid off, and so much more. But GOVERNMENT, not big business or the rich, is who hurts me.
Again, liberals who support high taxes and want to take from others are thieves. Period.
June 8th, 2007 at 3:32 am
I believe you put on display the true “ultraconservative” agenda in your “polls, polls, polls!” comment. You say, “poll’s are only as good as the people that are a part of them.” Who cares what the American people think, right?
Perhaps we should just do away with elections altogether and instead of relying on what you call “ignorant people,” we could allow a ruling elite to decide what is best for everyone.
Yeah, maybe we could allow those enterprising CEOs for whom, according to an article in The New Standard, “pay has increased rapidly in the past decade. From 1989 to 1999, the real median wages of CEOs went up by 62.7 percent, or the equivalent of 107 times the average worker’s salary.”
And you make our point about tax inequity when you speak of barely being able to make ends meet because of taxation. You, like me and the majority of common workers, are not rich. If we were then we could afford all the tax dodges and shelters that would allow us to avoid paying our fair share of taxes on the money we “worked” so hard for by sitting on our fannies allowing others to use our millions at a high rate of interest. Here is a link to an ABC News story that gives an example (one of many I might add!) detailing how the rich avoid taxes on their millions: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/IndustryInfo/story?id=3226432&page=1
June 8th, 2007 at 6:58 am
Good point - it is why we don’t let children vote- they don’t yet understand things. So perhaps that is a good idea! Put strong conservatives in charge and (by election, of course) and life will be so much better.
And there is no such thing as “avoiding taxes” be you rich, middle class, or poor. There is only keeping what is yours. If you want to call that avoiding taxes be my guest. I’ll call it defending what belongs to you.
June 11th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Douglas, first of all, when has any government “cared what the people thing”? Secondly, this is a capitalist society. You obviously have an issue with people being more successful than yourself. Mayhaps a bit more effort from you is in order to get you to your goals instead of attaining them on the backs of others…?
When I heard Clinton basically call for wealth redistribution, I almost puked. I’m not rich, but I don’t want your money if you’re richer than me, and I don’t want to give you my money if you’re not. If that’s going to be the case, then I’ll just quit working and live off you. That sound good to you? Mkthanks.