Joe,
I was very impressed by this:
> By the time Vinoba had reached the conference, two thousand acres had
been given back to the poorest villagers. Inspired by Vinoba's work,
Vimala also walked across India from east to west and north to south and
eventually ten million acres of land was given back to the landless poor
without a single hand from the bureaucracy. <
Two important factors here:
The land was FREELY GIVEN, which is a true act of compassion
The land was not TAKEN by the government, which is simply THEFT
Too many people consider themselves compassionate because they are
willing to empower the government to steal from some to give to others
they consider more deserving.
I concede that some people deserve to have assets confiscated because
they stole from others. For instance, Jon Corzine stole some of my
hard-earned retirement funds, but since he is a crony and fund-raiser
for Obama, not one penny of his ill-gotten gains have been taken for the
benefit of those he victimized; he remains a billionaire and has never
even been charged with a crime. If I could take his money and distribute
it to those from whom he stole, I would do so, but that would simply be
justice. To feel so 'compassionate' toward the poor that I help to
empower the government to steal money from productive people to give to
others is neither justice nor compassion.
RAF
