THE GIMME SOCIETY

I'm sitting here listening to Walter Williams (one of the clearest thinkers I've ever had the pleasure to hear) on the radio. Here's what he had to say about so-called entitlements - you understand that an entitlement is money that government takes from someone who earned it and gives to someone who didn't, right? - and what they really are.

Here's his example: I'm walking down the street. There's an old woman there, shivering on a grate in the dead of winter in New York. She asks me for some money so she can pay for a room and a hot meal and a visit to a doctor. I don't have any money, but I do have my handy pistol. So I pull the pistol and accost a passerby and tell him to give me $200 so I can give it to the woman, who obviously needs it more than the passerby does.

Walter Williams asks: is this moral? Or is it theft? And how is this different from the government taking money from one person and giving it to another? - - oh. The gun, right? Wrong. Refuse to pay, and armed cops will come for you. Resist them and they'll cuff you and take you to jail. Resist that, and they'll shoot you. So how is it different?

One is against the law, and the other is legal.

Oh, you say. Of course. But that begs the question: what is moral about theft, be it legal or not?

Taking a person's property against their will and giving it to another is immoral. You can make any argument you like about it, but in the end it is really simple theft, no matter the misguided good intentions. Because, you see, the luxury of this sort of good intention comes at the expense of others. It's easy to say that someone else should pay to help the unfortunates or worthless (Yes, there ARE worthless people) in our society. But if a person wants to test the value of their good intentions, let them see if they're willing to surrender their own property to someone else. The answer will nearly always be something like "If we all do it together, it'll cost each of us just a little . . ." In short, they want to keep their own property and pull a gun on the rest of us. They, and the other brain-dead hand wringer bleeding hearts among us, are no better than ordinary muggers.

I quoted somewhere in past blogs a prediction by Alex deToqueville. Something along the lines of 'This noble experiment of democracy is doomed the day the electorate discovers they can vote themselves largess from the public coffers.'

Are we there?

Is our future one of Obamunism - collectivism, socialism, communism? Fascism? Compare, for your own homework, his vision for America and Hitler's Germany.

It's time we non-ostriches begin to lose sleep at night. It's time we let others know what we think about takings, like government oversight of health care, welfare, and other programs that transfer money from those who earn it to those who don't.

Because, in the end, government control of our money equates to government control of every aspect of our lives. If you don't like that idea, let your voice be heard. Start your own blog. Talk to your friends and family about the morality of theft, no matter the perpetrator. Talk to them about the personal traits that made this country strong - individuality, personal responsibility, the work ethic, the knowledge of American History (Pre-PC, of course), and the potential for success without being penalized for it.

Write regularly and clearly to your representatives in Congress. Send copies of those letters to your local newspaper's editorial pages. Show up at political meetings such as Town Halls (if you can get past the screeners). Speak your mind dispassionately but plainly. Bring others with you.

I'll look for you there.