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In 21st century America, the federal government’s solution to every financial problem seems the same: people who are responsible with money are forced to foot the bill for the reckless.
Bought a house you can’t afford? No problem! Everyone else will bail you out. Made a bunch of risky loans to people who can’t repay them? It’s an honest mistake. Just stand in line for some TARP money, courtesy of the American taxpayer. Can’t pay your credit card bill? Don’t worry. Congress will shift more of the burden onto those who pay on time and in full.
People who would never think of stealing from their neighbors don’t seem to mind using government for the same purpose. And there are plenty of willing accomplices: what politician passes up an opportunity to buy votes using money earned by others?
Unfortunately, pure democracy can abide such things, as long as the number of people receiving the loot is greater than the number of people whose property gets looted. Our political leaders know that the electoral math works out—for now—even if the economic math does not.
Left unasked in all of this is an important question: is it moral for politicians to use the unparalleled power of the federal government to penalize certain people and reward others based purely on what’s politically popular?
Our country’s founders recognized that democracy without individual liberty is little more than a tyranny of the majority. There can be no individual liberty without the right to keep the fruits of your own labor. And equal justice requires that the property rights of all citizens receive equal protection under the law.
Sadly, none of this seems to matter to anyone in power any more.
“A Nation of Suckers and Slaves” is also available as an iPod/iPhone-compatible MPEG-4 download.
Want to watch more? Check out the rest of the Brain Terminal videos.
