I have never defined "compassion" as forcing someone else to give a third person something they need.
^It is when we come to the proposed measures of relief for the evils which have caught public attention that we reach the real subject which deserves our attention. As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X or, in the better case, what A, B and C shall do for X. As for A and B, who get a law to make themselves do for X what they are willing to do for him, we have nothing to say except that they might better have done it without any law, 'but what I want to do is to look up C. I want to show you what manner of man he is. I call him the Forgotten Man. Perhaps the appellation is not strictly correct. He is the man who never is thought of. He is the victim of the reformer, social speculator and philanthropist, and I hope to show you before I get through that he deserves your notice both for his character and for the many burdens which are laid upon him.^
^...Now who is the Forgotten Man? He is the simple, honest laborer, ready to earn his living by productive work. We pass him by because he is independent, self-supporting, and asks no favors. He does not appeal to the emotions or excite the sentiments. He only wants to make a contract and fulfill it, with respect on both sides and favor on neither side. He must get his living out of the capital of the country. The larger the capital is, the better living he can get. Every particle of capital which is wasted on the vicious, the idle, and the shiftless is so much taken from the capital available to reward the independent and productive laborer. But we stand with our backs to the independent and productive laborer all the time.
- William Sumner's "The Forgotten Man"^
As for tyranny, I'm not sure what else you'd call an ideology that believes that every aspect of our lives should be controlled by an all-powerful State. It's childish to think that a "crown" is required. All that is needed is the power.
Go ahead. Try and think of anything you do that is completely beyond the reach of what the current government thinks ought to be controlled. Especially if you are involved in any sort of business. Our citizenry has been so desensitized to such control that many will calmly accept the most ludicrous and microscopic interferences with our lives.
Current Events » in reply to Re: True
Re: off the wagon
