Gifts and Genuine Ownership of Property
Here's something that struck me out of the proverbial blue while I was grilling burgers today:
I was thinking today about the concept of giving as it relates to personal property and ownership. Whether we're talking about gifts between friends and family, or donations to charity or church, the very idea of a gift -- generosity, altruism, philanthropy -- presumes true ownership and personal property. In other words, you cannot truly give a gift to another unless you already own it. If I give something that does not truly belong to me, then it's not actually a gift. It is stealing, because I am giving to someone something that did not already belong to me.
Applying this principle to progressive ideology coming out of Washington every day, not only does such a government undermine personal property and ownership -- with onerous taxes on personal real estate and inheritance, and the threat of punishment if we presume to act as if we actually do own our homes or inherited resources -- but it necessarily redefines giving itself. It does so by (1) taking away property and/or usurping our personal ownership of property, and (2) by example, that is, by taking (i.e., stealing) the wealth of those who worked for it, and "giving" (i.e., redistributing) it to those who did not.
The story of Robin Hood is often misunderstood. The overly simplified summation, "stealing from the rich and giving to the poor," does more to promote class warfare -- that the rich are evil and miserly and should have their money taken away and given to the noble poor, the jobless and homeless people -- rather than representing the real Robin Hood story and mission.
Most people seem to forget -- or perhaps never knew -- that the story was actually about onerous taxes. The wealthy government officials were rich because they overtaxed the common people. And the common people were poor because they were overtaxed by the corrupt government. Robin Hood, the outlaw, did not steal from the rich and redistribute their wealth. Robin Hood did not "give," in the gift-giving sense, to the poor. He and his Merry Men of Sherwood actually took back, in behalf of the common people, what rightfully belonged to them.
If our current government, and the statist progressives comprising it, continue to drag us down this road, the concepts of generosity, altruism and philanthropy will become either entirely superfluous, or else change in meaning altogether.
"When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." ~ Thomas Jefferson
I was thinking today about the concept of giving as it relates to personal property and ownership. Whether we're talking about gifts between friends and family, or donations to charity or church, the very idea of a gift -- generosity, altruism, philanthropy -- presumes true ownership and personal property. In other words, you cannot truly give a gift to another unless you already own it. If I give something that does not truly belong to me, then it's not actually a gift. It is stealing, because I am giving to someone something that did not already belong to me.
Applying this principle to progressive ideology coming out of Washington every day, not only does such a government undermine personal property and ownership -- with onerous taxes on personal real estate and inheritance, and the threat of punishment if we presume to act as if we actually do own our homes or inherited resources -- but it necessarily redefines giving itself. It does so by (1) taking away property and/or usurping our personal ownership of property, and (2) by example, that is, by taking (i.e., stealing) the wealth of those who worked for it, and "giving" (i.e., redistributing) it to those who did not.
The story of Robin Hood is often misunderstood. The overly simplified summation, "stealing from the rich and giving to the poor," does more to promote class warfare -- that the rich are evil and miserly and should have their money taken away and given to the noble poor, the jobless and homeless people -- rather than representing the real Robin Hood story and mission.
Most people seem to forget -- or perhaps never knew -- that the story was actually about onerous taxes. The wealthy government officials were rich because they overtaxed the common people. And the common people were poor because they were overtaxed by the corrupt government. Robin Hood, the outlaw, did not steal from the rich and redistribute their wealth. Robin Hood did not "give," in the gift-giving sense, to the poor. He and his Merry Men of Sherwood actually took back, in behalf of the common people, what rightfully belonged to them.
If our current government, and the statist progressives comprising it, continue to drag us down this road, the concepts of generosity, altruism and philanthropy will become either entirely superfluous, or else change in meaning altogether.
"When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." ~ Thomas Jefferson
posted by Surviving Twin at 3:31 PM
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