Brandon

Monday, October 27, 2008

The Day After You Kill the Goose That Lays the Golden Eggs

What will you do when the leftovers run out?

Redistribution of wealth can be an appealing idea when the have lesses (there are so few have nots in this country) look at the have mores and are envious of their material success.

They think to themselves, "why, it's only fair that the rich folks share the wealth" and so the have lesses vote for candidates who promise to give them more (they are already getting a bundle) of someone else's money.

Sadly, they fail to realize that by so doing, they are undermining the very system which has permitted their average productive effort to achieve the status and prosperity they currently enjoy. And their opportunity to climb the ladder to the next rung is greatly diminished.

Protection of private property is the foundation upon which our capitalist system has been built and that system remains the envy of the world. If you don't believe me, just ask an illegal alien. If you undermine the protection of private property, you undermine the ability to create new wealth. And it is new wealth that is spread around much more efficiently by free markets than by government.

It's no secret that our major western allies and trading partners have substantially higher unemployment rates than does the United States. It goes hand in hand with higher levels of taxation in those countries. Spreading the wealth around in countries with a more socialist form of government has made it more difficult to spread prosperity and opportunity. It makes few people's lives better and makes many more worse.

And once you go down that road, there is no turning back. Creating a massive new system of entitlements such as Obama has proposed will make an even larger class of persons dependent on the wealth of others for whatever meager existence the government is able to permit with dwindling resources as the creation of new wealth is inhibited.

There is an enormous amount of wealth in this country. Enough to give everyone living here a really good party for a short while. But after we consume the leftovers from that meal what next? Social upheaval is sure to follow.

There is one proven path to greater opportunity and more wealth for all and it's not based on a socialist model of redistribution of wealth. That scheme has failed and is failing everytime it is tried.

If you don't believe me, visit oil rich Venezuela and see if you can buy food or turn on the lights. Do you want that to happen in the United States?

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