Editorial
The Republicans' Achilles Heel
In a recent Wall Street Journal essay, "Generational Theft Needs to be Arrested," three men advanced some suggestions to Republicans. Their main focus was the need for Republicans to address what they, following others who have chimed in on the topic, have criticized as current members of the public robbing future members of their resources by means of various welfare statist policies, specifically accumulating massive debts that those in the future have no opportunity to vote on, to argue against, and to oppose.
Their suggestion is to be applauded but as they phrased it the cautionary message contains a major flaw. At one point the three men assert that, "The government has an obligation, of course, to support needy seniors." They do not qualify this by saying that the obligation is a legal one. Rather they leave it unqualified, suggesting something that is completely false, namely, that the government and by implication the citizens, have a moral obligation to support needy seniors.
Now, it is of course plain, common sense morality that younger folks ought to make provisions for their older relatives, seniors, who are needy. That would arise from familial ethics but even that does not amount to a legally binding obligation. It is a matter of ethics, which has to be something freely followed; otherwise, it isn't something praiseworthy at all. And strangers have no such moral obligation.
To put it rather plainly, younger Americans are not to be placed in involuntary servitude to older ones. If they choose to give their support to older Americans – or, indeed, older people anywhere on Earth – that can be a worthy thing for them to do. But it has to be on their terms, not terms others impose on them and certainly not by their political representatives. Clearly there is no end to those who could demand their support if such an obligation existed for all young people! What government must do, as spelled out clearly in the Declaration of Independence, is to secure the rights of all the citizens to be free to do the peaceful things they have decided to do, period.
Believing in welfare statist obligations, via the government's taxing authority, is clearly tyrannical. It also leads to a flood of claims on the labor and resources of young people! Needy seniors are just one special interest group that will stand ready to be beneficiaries of this servitude. Farmers, artists, students and millions of other needy people will insist – indeed, many already do insist – that they, too, be provided with support.
Such parasitism is totally contrary to the principles of a bona fide free society. In such a society citizens will often volunteer to help one another but not as a matter of some unchosen obligation but out of generosity, kindness and now and then out of charity.
If Republicans believe that young people are legally obligated to support needy seniors how can they resist the call of a constantly expanding welfare state? How can they deny anyone the support they need to pursue goals they deem important? There is no way. And the logical implication is that saying no to any group in society, denying them support from others, is morally wrong, cruel, heartless, just as many politicians claim it is.
But that is simply false. Some people do have a morally valid claim on the help of young people but not all do. We are not all friends and family! Spreading the idea that we are is hopeless and ultimately cruel. It leads to false expectations and in the last analysis bankruptcy – exactly where most welfare states are today around the globe.
Morality is a valid consideration in how we relate to one another but it must be a reasonable morality, not a blind, reckless idealism.
Tibor Machan is a member of the Advisory Board for The Foundation for the Advancement of Free-Market Thinking (FAFMT) and the R. C. Hoiles Professor of Business Ethics & Free Enterprise at the Argyros School of Business & Economics, Chapman University in Orange, CA.
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Posted by EBS on 02/19/13 01:43 AM
Click to view link
One People's Public Trust Lawfully Forecloses Corporations, Banks and Governments for Operating Slavery and Private Money Systems
17 February 2013
By Andy Whiteley
Co-Founder of Wake Up World and Being of the Creator
Many of you have heard… many have not. Announced publicly on 25 December 2012, the system of Corporate-Governmental rule has been foreclosed. Legally foreclosed… via one of its own mechanisms. The 'Powers That Be' are now the 'Powers That Were'. All debt has been erased and corporations - including but not limited to Corporate Governments and Banks - have been foreclosed.
Sure, they may continue to play along in hopes we will play along with them. But thanks to a series of UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) filings made by the One People's Public Trust (known as OPPT) the choice is now yours to make. A new framework for social governance is now in effect; a fact that has been ratified by the 'legal' framework of its corporate-controlled predecessor.
Systemically speaking… WE ARE FREE!!
Click to view link
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Posted by nailheadtom on 02/18/13 08:18 PM
If it's logical for the state to demand an amount of support that they deem sufficient to raise a child to adulthood from a non-custodial parent how can it be logical for the same state to ignore those 18+ years of support when Mommy or Daddy can no longer fend for themselves? Why not state-mandated parent support?
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Posted by Friend_of_John_Galt on 02/18/13 07:59 PM
Sadly the bulk of the Republican leaders seem to have accepted the (so called) moral arguments of the left, only complaining about the degree to which leftist/statist policies should be followed. The only argument that the Republicans then have is, "We can do statism more efficiently!" Well, that won't get my vote.
There are a few promising younger Republicans -- but they all state "we'll save Social Security and Medicare" even though that subsumes that the taxpayers 'owe' something to the older generation.
Back in the 1980s, I was surprised at how few (almost none) of my fellow baby boomers understood the sell out that Congress (with influence of AARP) did to the boomer generation when it "saved" Social Security and Medicare from imminent collapse -- and kicked the can down the road for about 30 years, so the boomer generation is again faced with "imminent collapse" of both Social Security and Medicare.
It would have been so much better to have re-formed SS and Medicare into completely different sorts of programs (assuming that it would have been impossible to phase them out entirely, as should have been done) that would have had better long term effects on the growing unfunded program promises. The little bit of fiddling with starting age and big increase in taxes foisted on the boomers by "the greatest generation" was a huge bit of pocket picking on the part of the Washington establishment. Unfortunately, this time around, the demographics are badly stacked against the boomers who are now retiring in droves (especially those who can not find jobs in this Keynesian nirvana economy.
So long as Republican leaders remain tied to religious-altruist philosophy and use Kantian dialectic as their means of analysis, we're all in deep trouble
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Posted by JQ on 02/18/13 07:58 PM
@IndyLyn... "I can only hope at this senior age the fed collectivists don't take all of my funds BEFORE I'm dead!!!" Unfortunately just about every senior I know lost half of their retirement funds in 2008. This means even if you were wise and banked money for your senior years, there is no god given guarantee that your money will be there to use for survival purposes. Not if thugs/thieves reign as supreme sociopaths screwing over the many, which is tantamount to what is happening all over the country.
As for 'fed collectivists', you left out both state/town variety of which we have beaucoup here in Connecticut. It is now one of the top ten states where folks are leaving in droves. Just like they are in NJ, NY, Michigan, Wisconsin and more. As the feds put the squeeze on the states the state then squeezes towns, who in turn, become predators of its citizens.
When you have gov't being run by corporations, many of which are corrupt, coupled with Wall St mafia games we've witnessed for years, how is any senior to prepare for the exigencies of their final years? Stories abound of those who paid for years for long term care insurance..and when the time came it was denied them. More stories are out there about reverse mortgages which in some cases rob you of your home. It appears that theft is a major tool of the left. Their missing moral compass denies any wrong doing/evil.
To honestly believe that your money won't be stolen is to believe in fairy dust and unicorn farts..in short, it ain't happening anytime soon.
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Posted by JQ on 02/18/13 07:40 PM
@IndyLyn...
"I can only hope at this senior age the fed collectivists don't take all of my funds BEFORE I'm dead!!!"
Unfortunately just about every senior I know lost half of their retirement funds in 2008. This means even if you were wise and banked money for your senior years, there is no god given guarantee that your money will be there to use for survival purposes.
Not if thugs/thieves reign as supreme sociopaths screwing over the many.
As for 'fed collectivists', you left out both state/town collectivists of which we have beaucoup here in Connecticut. It is now one of the top ten states where folks are leaving in droves. Just like they are in NJ, NY, Michigan, Wisconsin and more. As the feds put the squeeze on the states the state then squeezes towns, who in turn, become predators of its citizens.
When you have gov't being run by corporations, many of which are corrupt, coupled with Wall St mafia games we've witnessed for too long, how is any senior to prepare for the exigencies of their final years? Stories abound of those who paid for years for long term care insurance..and when the time came it was denied them. More stories are out there about reverse mortgages which in some cases rob you of your home. It appears that theft is a major tool of the left. Their missing moral compass denies any wrong doing/evil.
Any boomer should be alert to what will happen to their 401K's as Uncle sham/Sam already has evil eyes on them... what will the boomers do if they lose those retirement plans? We see states in the US denying their state employee's health insurance and pension plans... ditto with teacher's plans.
The US Post Office is in such deep doodoo, they recently announced that Saturday deliveries will cease in August,(if memory serves me correctly).
So what are we all to do when you have had a collectivist 'entitlement' mentality reigning supreme for decades? At every level, we have watched the welfare mentality grow by leaps and bounds... from Corporate america who get breaks and often pay no taxes, from CEO's who take home $25 million dollar bonuses while their books swim in red ink and investor's get jack for their investing efforts. And those stimulus monies? Talk about Click to view link was all for naught and in fact, a joke on the American public. GM will never be able to pay back the billions the feds gave them. All those roads/bridges to be built obama talked about five years ago?..that too was a giant joke.
And yet, he has given billions to his mideast buddies whose main goal is the decimation of the west, otherwise known as the return of the Caliphate.
Would Dr. Machan pls address where our monies are being funneled to, as I see that as far worse then social security being paid out to seniors. All the men at the US helm should be wrapping themselves in the fool's flag of stupidity. For those of us who 'don't do stupid',we watch and weep as the Washington whores sell the US down the tube every which way to Sunday.
From the upper classes who feel 'entitled' to extras from the gov't, and then the middle classes feeling 'entitled' to whatever their heart desires, thus running up credit card debt bringing them to ruination..and then, the lower classes feeling entitled to every 'goodie' the average american feels is now a necessity. Idiot things like 42" tv screens, a cell phone for each family member, 500 channels of cable, most of which is useless and dummies down an already dumbed down country,all of these things are being used to keep the sheeple in a virtual stupor and unaware of what is happening. And oh yes, Hollywood's porn cesspool in the US where more money is spent on porn than all educational systems put together.(K 1-12 and colleges/univ)
With so much low class entitlement thinking, it is obvious that few even think about tomorrow, let alone put away money for the future. Those who did think ahead have been ripped off by govt/wall st and major crooks working in concert with each other. I often agree and enjoy Dr Machan's writings, but this time he leaves out too many salient points which militate against most seniors and soon-to-be-seniors to be prepared for their last life's chapter. We didn't ask to have our monies stolen, Dr!
Machan ends with "Morality is a valid consideration in how we relate to one Click to view link must be a reasonable morality, not a blind, reckless idealism." Problem now in the US is that the far left is totally power drunk with an idiotic idealism as they push their feminist/Marxist and Creep Cesspool of commie/homosexualist mentality on the rest of us. While we drown in debt, they now water down our military, our health, our very lives! I think the time has come for american parents to boycott colleges and universities with madmen marxist professors who only continue to poison student's minds.
So all these guys with their ivy league degrees who have lied and cheated their way to the top, only prove one thing. And that's that mental illness knows no intellectual boundaries. We have witnessed for several years now that once you step into the elephant manure you are locked into the circus forever. Wish Dr Machan would address this sorry state of statist affairs.
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Posted by IndyLyn on 02/18/13 05:06 PM
TM:"Morality is a valid consideration in how we relate to one another but it must be a reasonable morality, not a blind, reckless idealism."
A 'reasonable morality' ... it would seem overwhelmingly impossible to be 'reasonable' in the face of such near-universal collectivist mentalities. I can only hope at this senior age the fed collectivists don't take all of my funds BEFORE I'm dead!!!
