Opus 2022-282: The Non-Buck Starts Here

I keep seeing headlines and click bait about how much inflation and deficit spending has reduced my net worth and/or income.  I accept it as true but I also know it is nothing new.  This has been going on all my life.  Whoever is in office keeps trying to buy me off so they can continue skimming into their portfolio.  It works.  

Since I don’t see a source listed on any of the posters I am going to assume that Benjamin Franklin’s quote is apocryphal,

“When people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”

Franklin or not, it still is a great truth.  People still seem to believe that money from the government is free.  It isn’t.  It is either printed, thus reducing the value of the paper it is printed on, or it is taken from others who have earned it.  When you start using the coercive power of the state to take from others to reward yourself, the end is beginning.

Notice I said, “It works.”  I did not say, “Shame on you.”  That is because I can find areas of my life where I have been bought off.  I got the GI bill.  Sure, I served in Vietnam but does that justify years of subsidy?  For three years in college I received what was called the California State Scholarship.  Sure, I qualified but the money had to come from somewhere.  There are probably more places where I took the man’s bribe and should be ashamed.

I am a Trump supporter.  I think he was a great president.  That does not mean he was perfect but we are not comparing him to Jesus, just other presidents.  One bone I would pick with him was his willingness to spend money that we did not have.

If we are serious about recovering our liberties then we may need to stop taking liberties.  We need to stop the handouts.  It must start with us each saying “No” and trying to get the politicians to go along.  No I don’t also believe in the tooth faerie but I still put my tooth under the pillow.

It has to start somewhere.

homo unius libri