Government web of socialist programs

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 15, 2017)

Frequently, people see a problem and demand government step in to solve it, without noticing government is the cause of the problem in the first place. Adding more government to a problem is like trying to fight a fire by piling dry wood on it.

"Public" school is one of the most stubborn cases of mistaking a problem for a solution. Even among otherwise sensible people, as soon as you bring up "public schools", reason flies out the window, and is instantly replaced with emotion. Extraterrestrial visitors might be excused for believing they are witnessing devotion to a religion instead of to a government program.

Supporters of government schools confuse schooling for education, have been fooled into believing government schooling is "free", and undervalue education to the point they believe that unless they are forced to fund and attend these compulsory indoctrination camps, people-- especially "the underprivileged"-- would go uneducated.

Those who believe in government schooling fret over test scores, budgets, teacher salaries, trans-gender restrooms and showers, bullying, and other problems which have one very simple, ethical solution: the abolition of government schools. Then, let people choose their own path, paid for with the money they'll save through elimination of the taxes.

If the only way you can have what is important to you is to finance it through the government theft scheme called "taxation", then your idea is obviously not as wonderful as you imagine.

If something is valued, people will find a way to get it. If they are decent people, they'll find a way to get it without resorting to theft or coercion.

Simultaneously eliminate welfare and you don't even have to worry about an uneducated generation expecting to live on other tax-funded programs. For those who simply can't learn, or refuse to try, let them rely on charity-- which is both ethical and better at weeding out the undeserving.

This web of interdependent socialist programs is like a giant domino chain. Once the dominoes begin to fall, a free society becomes more within reach with each piece that topples. Those who love socialism will do everything in their power to prevent such a turn of events; using every excuse they can dream up.

I don't mind. A free society won't happen until liberty matters to enough people. Until that day arrives, I'm willing to keep speaking out, even when it upsets those who cling to the status quo. How about you?

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Stupid or stubborn?

If someone is doing something the wrong way-- and I don't mean a way you simply don't like, but one which doesn't work very well, when there is a better way which is not more difficult, complicated, or inconvenient-- and you show them the better way, but they never stop doing it the wrong way, what explains their behavior? Inertia? Habit? Or something else?

Before they are shown the better way, they can be excused by ignorance. We are all ignorant until we learn. But once they have been shown, ignorance is no longer an option. Something else must lie behind it.

I think it must either be that they are stupid or stubborn. Or, possibly refusing to change to keep from admitting you were right after all, which seems to be both. And, if they don't make an effort to break a habit after being shown their way doesn't work very well, and there is a better way... well, they have moved back into "stupid or stubborn" territory.

Democrats and Republicans, or "progressives and conservatives" if you prefer, (or more simply, statists) are stupid and/or stubborn in different ways. They have been shown better ways of getting the right things done, and yet they never change. They'll keep doing the wrong things the bad way until it kills them. Or you.

They continue to do things in poor ways that will either fail outright, or just not work as well as they could. When what they are doing (or trying to do) is wrong, that's a blessing, I suppose.

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This blog, like all of KentforLiberty.com, is reader supported. 
Any donations or subscriptions are GREATLY appreciated! Thank you.

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