"Finer Clay"

photo credit: drwhimsy

Perhaps the most fundamental nonsense in collectivist dogma is that while all people are equal, some people are "more equal" than others.

The idea that - rather than all mankind being born with the same basic rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - some mankind have a) more rights than others and are thereby fit to rule over others; or b) fewer rights than others and are thereby undeserving of respect for their natural rights, is, in a word, demonic.

I'll focus on the former for now, as we see it so frequently in practice.

Those unprincipled individuals in elected office tend to take upon themselves a "creator" role - and the longer they spend in office, the greater grows that tendency and view of their own benevolence toward us, who, no longer their employers, have somehow become their wards.

Bastiat Quote: Ignorance Leads to Greater Taxation

Particularly pertinent, given the votes before Congress right now:

"In a country where no law may be voted and no tax may be levied save with the consent of those whom the law is to govern and upon whom the tax is to fall, the public can be robbed only if it is first deceived.

Our ignorance is the raw material of every extortion that is practiced upon us, and we may be certain beforehand that every sophism is the precursor of an act of plunder.

My friends, when you detect a sophism in a petition, get a good grip on your wallet, for you may be sure that this is what the petitioners are aiming at." (quoted in Frederic Bastiat: A Man Alone)

... Discuss, if you feel so inclined. :-)

Also, what are your thoughts on having a regular quote "feature" here?