A Refute of Libertarian's Using Government Programs

Think Libertarians are hypocrites for using government services and programs such as Medicare and Social Security?  Walter Block's article today lays out precisely why the recent revelation of Ayn Rand collecting Social Security and Medicare and subsequent criticism by those on the left has no rational basis:

The critics entirely misunderstand the Randian philosophy. Suppose Ragnar Danneskjold (my favorite character in Atlas) breaks into the illegitimate government’s coffers, liberates (it is logically impossible to steal from an illicit state) some treasure, and turns it over to Hank Rearden. Is that a just act? Of course. Indeed, it is one of the high points of Atlas, a book which, I assume, has never been read and understood by her present critics. But the act of liberation and then transfer to Rearden consists of two parts. One, seizing the money from the government, and, two, subsequently giving it to Rearden. If the entire act is to be legitimate, then each of the two constituent parts of it must be proper. Two wrongs cannot make a right. Thus, in Rand’s view, it is entirely proper to relieve the (illegitimate) government of its ill-gotten gains (the first part of this dual act). Was the U.S. a legitimate laissez faire government during the years that Ayn Rand accepted payments from Social Security and Medicare? To ask this question is to answer it: of course not. Thus, it would have been entirely proper for Ragnar to raid the Social Security and Medicare offices and make off with their stolen wealth, and, then, to give the proceeds to an innocent, such as Ayn Rand. If so, where is the hypocrisy of Ayn Rand accepting payments directly from these government bureaus? It simply does not exist. Similarly, she and all other libertarians are fully justified in mailing letters with the US post office and thus accepting the implicit subsidy therein, and, also, walking on the socialist sidewalks, driving on the socialist roads, using money issued by our central bank, eating subsidized food, etc. It is improper to give money to the illicit state, not to take from these bureaucrats. Did Ayn Rand ever contribute money to the semi-socialist-fascist government? If she did, then and only then would her critics have a case. But, of course, she never came within a million miles of doing any such thing.

I have always told people that all libertarians are essentially hypocrites, but Block's rationale is hard to refute.

Speaking of rationale, check out NJ Gov. Chris Christie taking on a group of booing fire fighters in Peggy Noonan's editorial today:

As Mr. Chrisie recounted it: “You can imagine how that was received by 7,500 firefighters. As I walked into the room and was introduced. I was booed lustily. I made my way up to the stage, they booed some more. . . . So I said, ‘Come on, you can do better than that,’ and they did!”

He crumpled up his prepared remarks and threw them on the floor. He told them, “Here’s the deal: I understand you’re angry, and I understand you’re frustrated, and I understand you feel deceived and betrayed.” And, he said, they were right: “For 20 years, governors have come into this room and lied to you, promised you benefits that they had no way of paying for, making promises they knew they couldn’t keep, and just hoping that they wouldn’t be the man or women left holding the bag. I understand why you feel angry and betrayed and deceived by those people. Here’s what I don’t understand. Why are you booing the first guy who came in here and told you the truth?”

Perhaps if someone had done this in Wisconsin, then maybe things would be different now.

Today's post is just full of rational arguments, check out Charles Krauthammer's piece on the supposed deficit reducation in Obama's budget:

But there's a catch. The administration assumes economic growth levels higher than private economists and the Congressional Budget Office predict. Without this rosy scenario - using CBO growth estimates - $1.7 trillion of revenue disappears and U.S. debt increases $9 trillion over the next decade. This is almost $1 trillion every year.

Assume you buy the rosy scenario. Of what does this $1.1 trillion in deficit reduction consist? Painful cuts? Think again. It consists of $1.6 trillion in tax hikes, plus an odd $328 billion of some mysterious bipartisan funding for a transportation trust fund (gas taxes, one supposes) - for a grand total of nearly $2 trillion in new taxes.

Classic Obama debt reduction: Add $2 trillion in new taxes, then add $1 trillion in new spending and, presto, you've got $1 trillion of debt reduction. It's the same kind of mad deficit accounting in Obamacare: It reduces debt by adding $540 billion in new spending, then adding $770 billion in new taxes. Presto: $230 billion of "debt reduction." Bialystock & Bloom accounting.

What Krauthammer lacks in foreign policy (a peaceful one that is) he more than makes up for in economics.

Now for a new part of MGD that I think will become a daily part of the posts:  Did You Know?

Did You Know that Social Security takes up 53% of Japan's government spending?
Check out Mish's post to see more.  If Bernanke keeps trying to fight deflation like Japan has done for the past twenty years, it won't take long for the U.S. to reach that point.


How about some revisionist American History?  Jeff Riggenbach explains who the first Europeans that came to the United States really were:

Two main kinds of people fled Europe to live in North America in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries: individualists who sought freedom from the political interference they were accustomed to dealing with in Europe; and religious zealots who sought to create and maintain a puritan theocracy on these shores without interference from the selfsame European political authorities who were interfering with the individualists. Some colonists wanted a society in which no one could impose his or her creed on anyone else; other colonists wanted a society in which they could impose their own creed on everyone else.

Since it is Friday, I have to put up the Huffington Post's drunkest countries in the world! Surprisingly, the United States ranks low on the list.  You will never guess what country comes in at number 1.