Rise of the sheeple


Just because someone else demands to be led doesn't mean I have to submit
I own a house and a car.

Now imagine this.

My neighbors vote that they get to use my house, no matter what I say.

My car is taken from me because my neighbors have "greater need."

My groceries are distributed among my neighbors solely because I have some and they don't.

Is that right?

It's theft, pure and simple. The one difference between government coercion and armed robbery is that the law sanctions the government theft.

People will tell you that "sheeple" are always there, as Juliaki did in the responses to this post. And they are, no doubt about it. But thanks to the 20th Century, the sheeple now can make claims against the rest of us.

As watcherinthewind points out, it's the abuse of democracy that makes the sheeple tactics possible.

The United States Constitution is designed to defend individual rights. There is a reason for that. The tyranny of the majority can threaten even the most basic freedom UNLESS individual rights are protected. Paraphrasing Heinlein, nothing makes two people more moral than one person, two people are just stronger.

That is what it comes down to, it's a moral justification. That most slippery of all slopes.

While it sounds cruel, I believe that help has to come with limits. One limit is how much I choose to give, otherwise it infringes my rights. Another limit is that there should come a point when someone won't need my help anymore. Otherwise I am just training them to be dependent, which means I don't think they are fully capable as a person.

Freedom can't exist with the tyranny of the majority. My rights (and YOURS) can't depend on the next vote. The only justification for government is to protect the rights of the individual. Each person has the right to live their life as they choose, so long as it imposes no cost on me.

That is freedom. Choice, and the willingness to live with the consequences.

That is fair.

If you want to be ruled, fine. Just don't object when I deny that rule over me.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - December 22, 2006 at 03:47 PM  Tag


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