In Europe, during the days of the Founders, it was popular for people to proclaim that the role of government was to take from the ‘haves’ and give to the ‘have nots’ so that all might be truly ‘equal’. However, the founders knew that this proposition contained a major fallacy.
In Europe, during the days of the Founders, it was popular for people to proclaim that the role of government was to take from the ‘haves’ and give to the ‘have nots’ so that all might be truly ‘equal’. However, the founders knew that this proposition contained a major fallacy.
People cannot delegate to government the power to do anything that they could not do themselves. We have the right to protect our life and property, therefore, we have the ability to delegate our protection to government through a police force, which would protect the lives and property of all the people. Let’s suppose that there is a kind-hearted man that saw that one neighbor had two cars while another neighbor had none. What would happen if the kind man went to the neighbor with two cars, took one, and then generously gave it to the neighbor that had none? He would be arrested for theft of course! No matter how genuinely he cared about his neighbor with none, he has no right to steal from the neighbor with adundance and give it to another. The neighbor with abundance still has the right to their property. Of course, the prosperous neighbor could choose to donate the care to the neighbor in need, but it would be his decision, and not that of the kind hearted neighbor who wanted to rob from the rich to give to the poor.
Governments can sometimes commit ‘legal’ crimes. Let’s say that the kind-hearted man asks the mayor and city council to give one of the cars from the prosperous neighbor to the man with none, does that make it anymore right? Of course not! And it is worse, because now, not only did the man lose his property, but now he also lost his right to appeal because the government did it. The Founders warned that anytime a government is allowed to start taking the possessions of others with the goal of equalizing the distribution of goods, then the government thereafter will have been given the power to take away the right to enjoy life, liberty and property from ANY of the people.
Those who recieve from this idea generally think that this is a just system. But what happens when government starts taking also from those that are poor? Then they will claim their right to their property, but the government will then say,”Now we decide who hasrights in things.” When the government was given the power to rob fromthe rich and give to the poor it immiediately nullifies the principleof guarenteed equal rights. It opens the floodgates for government tomeddle with everyone’s rights.
When Communists seized power in Hungary, the peasants weredelighted at first when the government seized the large farms fromtheir owners and gave it to the peasants. But then later, when thegovernment seized 3/4 of the peasant land to create government communalfarms, of course the peasants screamed about their property rights. At that pointit was too late. If they continued to protest, they lost their libertyand, in several instances, their lives.
The Founders made sure that we could protect our freedom to prosperby protecting the rights of ALL people. There was no penalty forgetting rich. The people would not be locked into the poverty level asthey had in other nations. There would be some that would have morethan others but the entire nation could prosper. It was believed thatman had an instinct to succeed and by having the freedom to prosper,the whole people would prosper together. People were encouraged tostore up and save for a time when things were not prosperous or tohelp their neighbors when they hit on rough times. Hard work, thrift,and frugality were the key words for the American Ethic.
The Founders made these European theories unconstitutional.America became the most prosperous and most educated nation in theworld, and consequently, the most generous. Samuel Adams said, “Theutopian schemes of leveling (redistribution of wealth), and a communityof goods (central ownership of all the means of production anddistribution), are as visionary and impratical as those which vest allproperty in the Crown. (These ideas) are arbitrary, despotic, and inour government, unconstitutional.”
Yet, there are still those who insist that compassion for the poorrequires the Federal Government becoming involved and taking from the‘haves’ and giving to the ‘have nots’. Benjamin Franklin had been oneof the ‘have nots’ and having experienced these welfare programs of‘counter-productive compassion’, he wrote an entire essay on thesubject. He called the programs a great evil in not only the way inwhich it operates, but also because it encourages idleness.
Franklin wrote: “To relieve the misfourtune of our fellow creaturesis concurring with the deity; it is godlike; but, if we provideencouragement for laziness, and supports for folly, may we not be foundfighting against the order of God and Nature, which perhaps hasappointed want and misery as the proper punishments for, and cautionagainst, as well as neccesary consequences of, Idleness andextravagance? Whenever we attempt to amend the scheme of Providence,and to interfere with the government of the world, we had need be verycircumspect, lest we do more harm then good.”
The Founders all had deep feelings about helping the poor and less fortunate, but they had guidelines, a calculated compassion:
- Do not help the needy completely, simply help them help themselves.
- Give the poor the satisfaction of earned achievement instead of rewarding without achievement.
- Allow the poor to climb the ‘appreciation ladder’, from tents to cabins, cabins to cottages, cottages to comfortable homes.
- Where emergency help is provided, do not prolong it to where it becomes habitual.
- Strictly enforce fixed responsibility. First the individual is responsible for himself, the second level is the family, then the church, next the community, finally the country and, in a disaster or emergency, the state. Under no circumstances is the Federal Government to become involved in welfare. The Founders felt that this would corrupt the government and the poor. There is NO constitutional authority for the federal government to participate in charity or welfare.
The Founders did this to protect the people from abuse by an overly-aggressive government. This brings us to the next principle.
The 28 Principles of Liberty are adapted from w. Cleon Skousen’s Book “The 5000 year Leap”. Charity Angel’s offical site is www.CharityAngel.com These articles in their entirety can be found at www.28principlesofliberty.blogspot.com
