Opinion: The Immorality of Democrat Thought

We are fast approaching a tipping point in these United States of America. It seems as though an increasing percentage of the electorate believes that the purpose of the sovereign franchise is to vote themselves an ever-expanding portion of the public treasury. There seems to be this idea that just because one person has a need, perhaps a really significant, life or death need, that it is the business of government to force other citizens to respond to that need with their own labor or property.

Part of this thought process comes from a false separation between personal and property rights — to the diminution of both. By divorcing property from people, we devalue the labor that produced it, thereby also devaluing the humans who performed that labor. Some time back, I penned a piece that described the relationship between property and people.

In that piece, I opined that in one sense, property, whether cash or actual stuff, was a form of stored labor. It’s actually a biological imperative in many animals. Look at squirrels. They labor during the summer and fall, gathering up nuts to last them for a cold winter. A tree trunk full of nuts…stored labor.

Men do the same thing. They perform so many tasks and in return, receive compensation in the form of money which in turn can be converted into things necessary for survival. The short version is, property, whether cash or in-kind, represents the effort of human beings. I came to this epiphany when my daughter’s bike got stolen off of my back porch one year, two weeks after Christmas, and I had to perform some extra labor to replace it, thus losing a portion of my life in the process. You can read about this mental awakening here: Your Property is Your Property.

This diminution of humanity isn’t restricted to a Patrol Deputy being less than excited about doing a report for a stolen bicycle. The Democrats are taking this disregard for property rights, for human rights, to a whole new level. It starts with the fundamental question, “What is the value of a man’s labor?” A reasonable, thinking person might answer thusly, “The only folks morally entitled to opine, much less vote as to the value of a man’s labor, are that man and his would-be employer.” There are follow-ons to that assertion:

-In a voluntary economy and absent artificial interference, no man is paid any more or any less than his labor is worth.

-Each day a man comes to work and his employer pays him, constitutes a voluntary agreement between the two as to the value of that man’s labor.

The left cannot seem to grasp that, constantly interfering in the conversation between a man and his prospective employer. Their latest meddling involves what we like to refer to as the “gig economy,” folks working as independent contractors for a variety of reasons and a variety of work circumstances freely negotiated with the folks who pay them. Leftists, forever seeking even more control (and more union voters along the way) have sought to convert independent contractors such as Uber drivers and independent Red State Contributors, into employees against their will. This, of course, makes the cost of their services prohibitive and brings financial harm to the very people they purport to help. My colleague has a great article out about this here: President Trump Vows to Veto Anti-Freelance Worker Bill

If that weren’t bad enough, in the name of “compassion,” (actually vote buying) the left seeks to forcibly take property from those who have earned it for the sole purpose of handing it to those who have not. Please understand, Christian charity is a personal, moral obligation…just not one that should be state-mandated via the threat of imprisonment for non-compliance.

Part of the leftist line is the use of “society” and “government” as synonyms. “Society has a moral obligation to care for the weak,” the mantra goes. I agree. However, society is not the same thing as government. Our society also includes private charity. The circumstances under which a man chooses to work, how he chooses to spend the fruits of that labor, and how he addresses his moral obligation to his fellow man are no business of government. These are where President Trump can do even more good in his second term.

The President can continue to place solid conservative judges on the federal bench at all levels, hopefully even the Supreme Court. Once he has achieved a critical mass and a solidly conservative High Court, we can start readdressing some of these issues. The Supremes can recognize that only a man and his employer have any business discussing the terms of that employee’s compensation. At that point, we can do away with the opportunity-killing abomination known as “Minimum Wage.”

We can again allow employers and employees determine the employee’s status…employee or independent contractor. Best of all, the Supreme Court can, through a series of rulings against federally-funded charity, remind us all that there is only one…ONE instance whereby the U.S. Constitution allows a citizen to demand the labor of his fellow citizens against their will…Only One.

“The only folks morally entitled to opine, much less vote as to the value of a man’s labor, are that man and his would-be employer.”

It depends on how he defines employer. If by employer, he means the market, then yes, he is correct but if he simply means the person who gives you a job, he is wrong.

Put another way, the market determines value. If an employer is not doing something of value for someone else, i.e. the customer or employer, you will not employed long. Furthermore, the employee MUST create value beyond his cost (I don’t say salary because there are so many other things involved in employing someone, taxes, insurances, etc.). Profit is the REAl message of a business’ or an employee’s value. We vote everyday whether that good or service is needed. THE PURPOSE OF ANY BUSINESS IS TO CREATE PROFIT NOT TO EMPLOY. Profit tells us whether the good or action is needed.

I wrote this on another thread, hope you don't mind my posting it here:

This brings to mind the parable of the Dog Food Company:

Once upon a time a pet food company created a new variety of dog food and rolled out a massive marketing campaign to introduce the product. Despite hiring a first-rate advertising agency, initial sales were very disappointing. The agency was fired and a new agency and a new campaign was launched. Sales continued to disappoint. If anything, they fell even further. In desperation, the CEO called in all of the top executives for a brainstorming session to analyze what had gone wrong with the two campaigns and how a new campaign might revive sales.

The meeting went on for hours. Sophisticated statistical analysis was brought to bear on the problem. One VP argued that the mix of TV and print ads had been messed up. Another argued that the previous campaigns had been too subtle and had failed to feature the product with sufficient prominence. Another argued that the TV ad campaign had focused too much on spots during sporting events and not enough on regular programming with a broader demographic. Another argued the opposite–not enough sports programming had been targeted. After the debate had raged for hours, the CEO felt they had accomplished very little. He asked if anyone else had any theories that might explain the failure of the new product. Finally, one newly hired employee raised his hand and was recognized.

Maybe the dogs don’t like it, he said.

I use this parable to illustrate the problem the Left has now:

They have all kinds of ideas about how things should be done, the way people should act, the foods we should eat (or not eat, like Bloomberg and his soda ban) the language we should use (or not use) and the list goes on and on. They have focus groups that analyze aspects of what a candidate should be all about, they are running commercials nauseatingly non-stop (which I believe will eventually have a negative impact) and overall, they think they are the smartest, most organized, most moral, most "woke", most environmentally conscious, most tolerant, most democratic, and most American group of people around.

Their problem is a fundamental one:

Their Ideas Suck.

They exist inside a Leftist echo chamber, and they have no understanding of that fact. They think that if they keep saying over and over again what they believe in, inundate America from all sides of the media with their ideas, spray those ideas at us with the firehoses of media and entertainment, scold us, yell at us, tell us how stupid we are not to see them for the geniuses that they are...well, they think that approach, like that of the marketing executives in the Dog Food Parable, that they can somehow fix their "product" composed of ideas.

They can't.

Their Ideas Suck.

And normal people who don't live in that Leftist Echo Chamber have (I hope) begun to see it, especially with the contrast between the eight years of Obama and his ilk, and less than four years of Trump.

And that reality, the simple fact that they on the Left with their sucky ideas can do nothing about it, that they cannot massage their message (because no matter how much you polish a dog turd, it is still a dog turd) is driving them out of their minds.

And so we get these "books" trying to show us the light, these podcasts of spitting, frothing, Leftists, these ex-DOJ officials and members of a judges union producing media releases talking about what a danger Donald Trump and his ideas are to the very fabric of this country.

And so we are subjected to the spectacle of these foam-mouthed Leftists, hermetically sealed inside their Leftist echo chambers engaging in their increasingly frenetic Leftist circle-jerks telling us how wrong we are and what danger our country is in, while Trump waves his non-existent magic wand, our unemployment rates go down and our wages go up.

It is driving them to both madness and violence, and they are helpless to do anything about it. Because fundamentally...

Their Ideas Suck.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.