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To: Political Junkie Too

I’ll go with the ancient sage’s lesson


40 posted on 01/13/2019 10:33:39 AM PST by Az Joe (I AM TRUMP!)
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To: Az Joe
I think we're saying the same thing. This article misstates the story, stating that the large boy had a "right" to the large coat when Xenophon's story only said that it was "better" for each to have the coat that fitted him best.

The original story focused on the justice of taking the coat from one and giving it to the other, but it didn't dwell on the motives for why a small boy would buy the large coat in the first place. It was concerned simply that the small boy bought it, and so he should keep it. As with any parable, I expanded on this point, using the ancient story to highlight current issues.

Today, and perhaps back then too, liberals justify their takings by claiming that the motives of others don't matter, that they're wrong, that they're selfish, or that the collective could put the property to better use than the individual who owns it. In Xenophon's story, Cyrus judges that the comfort of the large boy was more important than any reason the small boy had for buying a large coat.

Cyrus decided that the large boy had a better use for the large coat than did the small boy, without considering the small boy's future use.

The city council of New London, CT, decided that they had a better use for Susette Kelo's house than she did. They bet on their own future use, which never materialized.

Ocasio-Cortez thinks she has a better use for earnings of taxpayers than we do. She wants to give health care for all, college for all, and no future retirement savings for anyone.

This article, by switching "better use" for "right," supposes that Ocasio-Cortez is always morally "right" and socially "just" because that's how ideologues think. He's right in the conclusion, but I think he misapplies the lesson of the parable.

-PJ

44 posted on 01/13/2019 12:30:43 PM PST by Political Junkie Too (The 1st Amendment gives the People the right to a free press, not CNN the right to the 1st question.)
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