Our problem is immorality

[JamieElizabeth]

Opinion Editorial by Walter E. Williams - Apr 22, 2009


Do you believe that it is moral and just for one person to be forcibly used to serve the purposes of another? For too many people, this is no simple question to answer — but it should be.


Most of our nation’s great problems, including our economic problems, have as their root decaying moral values.

Whether we have the stomach to own up to it or not, we have become an immoral people left with little more than the pretense of morality.

You say, “That’s a pretty heavy charge, Williams. You’d better be prepared to back it up with evidence!” I’ll try with a few questions for you to answer.

Do you believe that it is moral and just for one person to be forcibly used to serve the purposes of another? And, if that person does not peaceably submit to being so used, do you believe that there should be the initiation of some kind of force against him?

Neither question is complex and can be answered by either a yes or no. For me the answer is no to both questions but I bet that your average college professor, politician or minister would not give a simple yes or no response. They would be evasive and probably say that it all depends.

In thinking about questions of morality, my initial premise is that I am my private property and you are your private property. That’s simple. What’s complex is what percentage of me belongs to someone else.

If we accept the idea of self-ownership, then certain acts are readily revealed as moral or immoral. Acts such as rape and murder are immoral because they violate one’s private property rights. Theft of the physical things that we own, such as cars, jewelry and money, also violates our ownership rights.

The reason why your college professor, politician or minister cannot give a simple yes or no answer to the question of whether one person should be used to serve the purposes of another is because they are sly enough to know that either answer would be troublesome for their agenda.

A yes answer would put them firmly in the position of supporting some of mankind’s most horrible injustices such as slavery. After all, what is slavery but the forcible use of one person to serve the purposes of another?

A no answer would put them on the spot as well because that would mean they would have to come out against taking the earnings of one American to give to another in the forms of farm and business handouts, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and thousands of similar programs that account for more than two-thirds of the federal budget.

There is neither moral justification nor constitutional authority for what amounts to legalized theft. This is not an argument against paying taxes. We all have a moral obligation to pay our share of the constitutionally mandated and enumerated functions of the federal government.

Unfortunately, there is no way out of our immoral quagmire. The reason is that now that the U.S. Congress has established the principle that one American has a right to live at the expense of another American, it no longer pays to be moral.

People who choose to be moral and refuse congressional handouts will find themselves losers. They’ll be paying higher and higher taxes to support increasing numbers of those paying lower and lower taxes.

As it stands now, close to 50 percent of income earners have no federal income tax liability and as such, what do they care about rising income taxes?

In other words, once legalized theft begins, it becomes too costly to remain moral and self-sufficient. You might as well join in the looting, including the current looting in the name of stimulating the economy.

I am all too afraid that a historian, a hundred years from now, will footnote America as a historical curiosity where people once enjoyed private property rights and limited government but it all returned to mankind’s normal state of affairs — arbitrary abuse and control by the powerful elite.

Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He has authored more than 150 publications, including many in scholarly journals, and has frequently given expert testimony before Congressional committees on public policy issues ranging from labor policy to taxation and spending.+
Our Problem Is Immorality - Ayn Rand Admirers at The Atlasphere

[Grimmlok]

more right wing drivel.

"colleges and universities have an agenda! fear education!"

"social programs are immoral! it's theft! my hard earned tax dollars!"

ugh, where do you find this mindless crap.

[MohandasKGanja]

As soon as I see "Walter Williams" in the byline, I know that it's not worth the Joules of energy to continue reading....

[cupcake]

Never heard of him until now

[Aella]

...did he just parallel taxation and benefits to rape and slavery? SERIOUSLY?

[Grimmlok]

Apparently.

Though there is a correlation: slavery built roads, roailroads, sewer systems, other infrastructure.. you know, the very thing that makes a society A SOCIETY, and not a collection of cabins in the middle of nowhere.

[BBDSP]

I think his problem is immorality.

[WhoAmI]

This is all you need to know from his bio:

He is also occasional substitute host for the "Rush Limbaugh" show.