I haven’t been blogging much of my own lately because I’m a bit overwhelmed with different ideas on what to write, and none of it is cohesive enough to constitute a blog entry (sometimes what emerges as an entry feels like it anyway!). But I wanted to share this article from The Freeman, a periodical published by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). The article explains some of the guilt complex that successful businessmen often have when they say they want to “give back” to society. It’s really an ironic thing, because they did give back to society by providing it with goods and services that they not only wanted, they willingly and voluntarily gave up their money to attain. It’s simply called trade, and when voluntary trade occurs, it makes each person “wealthier.” That one single person becomes very wealthy (by ethical and lawful means) simply means they had their finger on the pulse of their fellow citizens. In other words, they really got it right because so many people wanted what they were providing. The author expresses similar thoughts to that of my own on this post.
Here is a link to the article. Here is a notable quote:
Successful people who earn their wealth through free and peaceful exchange may choose to give some of it away, but they’d be no less moral and no less debt-free if they gave away nothing. It cheapens the powerful charitable impulse that all but a few people possess to suggest that charity is equivalent to debt service or that it should be motivated by any degree of guilt or self-flagellation.
I’ve often wondered what the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution would have looked like if our Founding Fathers believed in the false god of Collectivism. While many believe that collectivism is a good thing—either because they confuse it with the notion of community or simply believe individuals don’t have rights—our founding fathers probably understood the danger and potential for disaster placing primary importance on groups instead of individuals. Just as racism is an ugly form of collectivism because it places a value judgment upon an individual without even knowing an individual, so are other forms of collectivism a valueless way of viewing human beings.
One thing that really hacks me off is the duplicitous behaviors by our government. While we (rightfully) demonize Bernard Madoff for running an illegal Ponzi Scheme, the government itself runs two of them: Social Security and Medicare.
Follow Us!