“It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights — the 'right' to education, the 'right' to health care, the 'right' to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights, those are the rations of slavery — hay and a barn for human cattle.” (Alexis de Tocqueville)
Alexis De Tocqueville, the French philosopher who visited America in the 1830s, recognized the great truth almost 200 years ago. Despite what the Democrats and the Left say, people do not have a “right” to education, health care, housing, etc. A person can only have a “right” to those things if they have a “right” to somebody else’s money, i.e., somebody else pays for it. And nobody has a “right” to another person’s property.
But the Left has demagogued the issue, and many people believe it. Joe Biden opened America’s borders to the world, and countless millions came to get their free food, health care, housing, etc., all paid for courtesy of the American taxpayer. People on welfare are “entitled” to these things, Democrats say; the government provides them. That’s good for politicians who can sell “rights” to literally buy votes.
However, as De Tocqueville pointed out, being dependent upon the government is not freedom but slavery. A cow depends on its owner for its sustenance; that isn’t freedom, not that the cow cares. And a lot of humans don’t either. It is amazing how many people prefer slavery to freedom. Well, slavery is comfortable; let somebody else take care of you. Freedom involves risks; you have to take care of yourself. Too many people are too lazy to do that, and politicians can feed off that. And call it “rights.”
I say “dependence upon government is slavery,” and in one major sense, that is not true. Undoubtedly, some people cannot take care of themselves and need assistance; there is no question about this. The disagreement is over the best way to do it and whether it is a true function of government. More on that momentarily. Charity is a necessary part of our responsibilities to God and man, and we should all be merciful people and help those who truly need it. That is undebatable, and inhumane if we don’t do it.
But that doesn’t make receiving “charity” a human right.”
However, back to “dependence upon government” as slavery. Many of the people on government welfare—probably most—are not “slaves”; slavery is involuntary, and these people could work if they wanted to and take care of themselves. They simply choose not to because they prefer dependence. Thus, they aren’t really “slaves” of the government; they are just too lazy to do what is necessary to provide for themselves. But the Left has demagogued that these people are the “needy poor” and have a “right” to the property and money of others. And most Americans have bought it.
Another case in point is the illegal aliens who are currently in America. I confess that I can’t help but feel sorry for SOME of them who have come to America’s shores—not all of them, but some. Many have come for impure motives—as gang members to bring drugs, or to get “free” benefits from the American people through government. Such people have no right to be in our country and should be immediately deported.
But there are, no doubt, many of them, like many immigrants in the past, who are truly seeking a better life, and I do not begrudge them that wish. We need to be a merciful people. Now, I believe they should do it legally if they want to move to our country. When they are allowed here, they need to take care of themselves and not burden honest, tax-paying citizens to support them; they have no “right” to food, health care, education, etc., paid for by hard-working Americans, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet themselves. “Charity is no part of the legislative duty of government,” James Madison said. If you read the apostle Paul’s short discussion of the purpose of government in Romans 13:1-7, he is in full agreement with our Founders on the purpose of government (protection of property, punishment of evil doers); there is nothing in Paul’s words that tell us government should forcefully (through taxation) take money from one person who has earned it and give it to somebody who hasn’t. That isn’t charity, that’s theft. Redistribution of income is what thieves do, and they do it by force. There is certainly a purpose for taxation, and we should willingly pay for the government's services. But forced charity is a contradiction of terms. The illegals in America, regardless of any purity of motive some may have for coming to the country, have no right to the monies of American citizens.
Yet again, many of them have fled from oppressive governments (governments they sometimes helped elect), and we should feel empathy for them. Most of us are the blessed ones who were born in America. We should be thankful for that mercy. But that doesn’t mean we should help people break our laws. That sets a very bad precedent. Nor does it mean these people—or even other American citizens—have a “right” to the property (money, etc.) of others. We all have certain God-given rights—life, liberty, our own property, the pursuit of happiness—and to force others to pay for our “rights” is to take away from others one of the basic rights of humanity—the right to the bread one has earned by their own labor. There is no right to steal from others.
But if we continue to let the Left control the education system and propagandize our people, we WILL lose our freedoms. We’ll all become wards of the government, which is exactly what the Left—and the government—wants. Alexis De Tocqueville was exactly right.
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