-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.43/pageone.html Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.43/pageone.html">Laissez Faire City Times - Volume 3 Issue 43</A> ----- November 8, 1999 - Volume 3, Issue 43 Editor & Chief: Emile Zola ----- Bradley Dreaming for Us by Tibor R. Machan Bill Bradley, now the darling of the Democratic Left, gave it away big time during the recent debate he had with Al Gore. He was reported to have told us that the American presidency is "about dreaming and trying to fulfill those dreams." That is categorically not what the American presidency is about. Can you imagine it? The highest officer of the government of the United States of America is supposed to be about fulfilling people's dreams! No way. But that is what many now view government, the eternal Santa Claus. And by implication the citizenry is a bunch of kids who have dreams of various goodies Santa will bring them. At whose expense? Well, kids do not fret about such matters. Anyone with kids knows this – their cost consciousness does not begin until they get out and pay with their own earnings for what they want (and even then some don't get it). It looks like this childishness about what to want and how to get it is the official public philosophy of Bill Bradley. He wants a health care insurance program for everyone that will cost $50 billion but never ever discusses why everyone should receive such health care insurance, even those who have not seen fit to care for their medical needs and splurged on other things throughout their lives. Sure, now they find themselves in dire straits and that is regrettable. But just exactly why should their dreams of costless health insurance be something that the president of the USA will impose upon the rest of us? Indeed, by perpetuating the myth that the presidency is about dream-fulfillment Bill Bradley should be disqualifying himself in everyone's eyes. Only there are enough silly people among the American citizenry who believe that it is their right to get something for nothing. They view other people's earnings and assets as just a portion of a public resource they may dip into anytime they have another dream. They have no grasp of the fact that such is the road to running out of all precious resources, by treating them as collective property that everyone may utilize at his or her heart's content. What is saving Bill Bradley and his ilk from being put into jail or a loony bin is that most Americans—and indeed citizens throughout the civilized world—are willing to overlook their larceny just to enjoy some peace and quite. Arthur Laffer, the USC economist, explained this when he presented a friend of his with a napkin on which he draw what has come to be called "The Laffer Curve." It was a simple bell-shaped curve that meant to show that up to a point people will put up with confiscatory taxation because, well, it is too much trouble to fight it. Kind of like if someone keeps stealing small stuff from your front yard or even putting small dents into you car. Not that it is really right, only that to fight it you'd lose more than you could gain back. With all these people coming out of American primary and secondary education convinced that they are owed a living—or at least a safety net—not from their own careful planning, prudence, and wisdom but through the seizure of other people's resources, it is no wonder that Bradley's Laffer Curve philosophy of public finance goes nearly unscrutinized. All that Gore could say it will cost too much but not that is it highway robbery, which it would be if implemented. In our day it has come to be commonplace that no one who is not well to do deserves this. Everyone ought to have enough, the idea goes, never mind how they have lived, what choices they have made, how they are managing their lives. It is their basic, natural right to dip into other people's pockets, regardless. Now there are some people who are unfortunately helpless. But they could be taken good care of by the hundreds of charitable organizations that those who are well off have established for just that purposes. Indeed, for a goodly portion of Britain's and America's history that has been exactly what went on—see, for one, Michael Tanner, The End of Welfare: Fighting Poverty in the Civil Society (Cato Institute, 1996). But it also bears recalling what Herbert Spencer noted: "Sympathy with one in suffering suppresses, for the time being, remembrance of his transgressions. . . . Those whose hardships are set forth in pamphlets and proclamations in sermons and speeches which echo throughout society, are assumed to be all worthy souls, grievously wronged; and none of them are thought of as bearing the penalties of their own misdeeds." (Man Versus the State, p.22) What the belief in universal innocent neediness and a nationalized pool of wealth has done is encourage millions—including many huge corporations, educational establishments, artistic institutions and the like—to use resources way beyond their means. That is what comes from believing that government is "about dreaming and fulfilling those dreams." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tibor Machan, a philsopher, was previously interviewed by Alberto Mingardi for The Laissez Faire City Times (http://zolatimes.com/V2.21/Tmachan.html ). He is associated with Freedom Communications of Irvine, CA; the School of Business & Economics, Chapman University, in Orange, CA; and the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, -30- from The Laissez Faire City Times, Vol 3, No 43, November 8, ----- Published by Laissez Faire City Netcasting Group, Inc. Copyright 1998 - Trademark Registered with LFC Public Registrar All Rights Reserved ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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