How often do we adopt this mentality? There are lots of poor people—let the government take care of them. The eduction system sucks—let the government take care of it. Many people can’t afford proper healthcare—let the government help them.
Many people are capable of providing all these things for themselves. Many are not. Whose responsibility is it to help?
When looking at a small group (let’s say 4 people), the answer is clear. Imagine this scenario:
- Jack has sufficient for his needs. He believes it is his moral responsibility to help those in need.
- Suzy has sufficient for her needs. She believes in survival of the fittest and feels no responsibility to reach out and help others.
- Grant has sufficient for his needs. He believes that EVERYONE who makes money has a responsibility to give to those who don’t.
- Jamie does not have sufficient for her needs. She needs help.
Who will help Jamie? In a free society, Jack will choose to help because he wants to. But what if Grant petitions the government for a tax that will be used to provide Jamie with her necessities? Then Jack and Suzy would both be FORCED to give to Jamie. Jamie would have no idea where the help came from. Suzy would resent being forced to give, and Jack would assume Jamie’s needs are met—even if they aren’t.
Each character in this little scenario represents a large group of any society. The principles illustrated in this overly simple example hold true even in large societies. Anytime we push a responsibility on the government, we FORCE everyone to contribute whether they want to or not. This is a small loss of liberty for everyone involved. What happens when hundreds, or thousands, of such programs are put in place?
I hope that each of us will look inward for the solution to society’s problems. I hope that as a group, we will not assume the government is the solution to all our problems. Liberty is a responsibility.
Tags: Liberty Links, responsibility
Great thought Ben. I never thought about it this way. I never thought about the disconnect of those who are giving to those who are receiving.
Well thought out, Ben. Way to distill the “redistribution of the wealth” scenario into its simplest form.
One of your best blogs so far!
[...] made it pretty clear that I hate the idea of asking the government take care of it. Not only would it undermine freedom, but it would be a huge project wrought with waste and [...]