Random Dude wearing a "Level The Playing Field" Shirt: "Goofy is rich! That isn't fair. He didn't even earn his wealth! He should contribute more, and pay his fair share!"
Me: "If he didn't earn it, where did his wealth come from?"
Random Dude: "Not sure, but I think his great grandfather Mickey built an oil well and got rich doing it...There are so many people who have nothing, the weaker among us. We should value their rights! It's the right thing to do!
How many times have we heard this one?
It's one of the many battle cries of the modern liberal: So many are in need, and there are so many wealthy who didn't "earn" their money. It's just not fair, so the government should make things more fair, to give everyone an equal shot. Does Goofy deserve all his wealth? Has he earned it? All Goofy does is run around and saying "Gawrsh". He's certainly not a responsible person. He's not too bright either. He'll probably waste all of it on really big shoes. That money could be spent much more appropriately on those who need it more. We're all in this together. The government should DO SOMETHING, because... because... It's just the right thing to do!
The whole context of this discussion is wrong.
This argument isn't about the character or worthiness of the person in possession of the wealth. No, this argument is about the rights of the producer of the wealth. It is a basic human right to own property, and to dispose of it how one sees fit. In the above senario, the irony of the statement of the "Random Dude" is laughable, we should value the rights of the "weaker among us"... Who is more weak than a man on his deathbed?
By what right is it morally correct to trample on his right to make the life of his offspring better by appropriating HIS wealth in a way contrary to his whims? By what right is it ok to decide that the producer of wealth's desires have no merit once he is no longer in possession of them?
No, not all those with wealth "deserve" what they have, and many of them certainly haven't "earned" it. That isn't this issue here. Conservatives lose this battle of "what is right" all too often, because they fight on the wrong battlefield. From the document that formed the government closest to perfection seen by man....
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
My pursuit of happiness it to ensure that my child has a BETTER chance than the next child, to have a better life than I did. By what travesty of morality has it become commonly accepted that this is somehow not "right"?
As Ayn Rand so eloquently put it in "Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal":
The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.
Call the bluff...
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