Socialism is legal plunder against productive citizens
Editor:
Recently you reported on the Orleans County primary, and I would like to focus specifically on the Democratic results. Bernie Sanders bested Hillary Clinton in our small county 57.4% to 42.6%. I could speculate on all the reasons people in our county support Sanders, but let’s focus on one for now – the allure of “Democratic Socialism.”
Sanders supporters claim this is a way of “appropriating” taxes to “work for the people.” But what is a tax, and how does it relate to socialism?
A tax is an involuntary penalty you pay for being productive. An institution inserts itself into your interactions, and takes a portion of your earning, with the claim that it is to render public services. This institution asserts its right to your earnings based on your citizenship.
Essentially it holds you to a “social contract,” some claim you agree to simply by being born in a coincidental geographic location. A “contract” you never read, agreed to, or signed. It’s also impossible to opt out of because this institution has made it illegal to do so. Think taxes are voluntary? Try not paying them.
This institution can do this because it holds a monopoly on violence. It is able to hurt you without impunity. This is an uncomfortable truth Sanders supporters do not realize, or do not want to admit.
Every time you advocate for a social program financed through taxation, you advocate for that institution to steal the earnings of others at the barrel of a gun. If they refuse to pay, the IRS will burden them with fees that take even more. If they resist, the institution will put them in handcuffs and lock them in a cage. If they fight back, they will most likely be harmed or killed, and it will all be legal.
Supporting “taxing the 1%” does not make you moral. In fact, supporting a tax is one of the most immoral things you can do. It is simply “legal plunder”, and to quote Bastiat, “the state is the great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.”
It is not made any more moral by “democratically” voting for where the money goes either. At its core, democracy is mob rule, two wolves and a sheep voting on what to eat. It is an imperfect system, easily corrupted.
Socialism has been tried and has failed. Look to Venezuela and Greece.
The idea of individual liberty can be new and scary for a species that has spent most of its time on earth under the rule of tyrants. I implore your readers to explore these ideas. I also encourage your readers that in their study, if they should find no common ground this election cycle with a candidate, to stay home on election day. Voting is free speech, the same as not voting.
Our system is supposed to derive its authority from the consent of the governed. If you do not support the system, withdraw your consent.
Dave Joksimovic
Kendall
