![[TEST] The Objective Standard](https://test.theobjectivestandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/logo.png){kind=logo}
The Founders did not say that Americans have the “privilege” of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; the Founders recognized that Americans have an inalienable right to those things.
Yet Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner claims the federal government should forcibly confiscate more wealth from some citizens, as this is properly their “burden” for “the privilege of being an American.”
At least Geithner’s statement is clarifying. It shows that the welfare state that he and his “Progressive” brethren endorse—consisting of massive forced wealth transfers from those who earn wealth to those who don’t—is incompatible with individual rights and is, in principle, a system of involuntary servitude and, ultimately, slavery.
As Ayn Rand observed, “Since man has to sustain his life by his own effort, the man who has no right to the product of his effort has no means to sustain his life. The man who produces while others dispose of his product, is a slave.”
Appallingly, we already have a system of involuntary servitude. Geithner and company want to expand it.
What does that make them? What would it make you?
If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to The Objective Standard and making objective journalism a regular part of your life.
Related:
- The American Right, the Purpose of Government, and the Future of Liberty
- Warren Buffett Immorally Calls for Tax Hikes on Top Producers
Image: Wikimedia Commons
You might also like
