When, Then, Does Plunder Stop? It Stops

The Plans Differ; The Planners Are All Alike.

When Plunder Becomes A Way Of Life, Men Create For Themselves A Legal System That Authorizes It And A Moral Code That Glorifies It.

The Mind Never Fully Accepts Any Convictions That It Does Not Owe To Its Own Efforts.

Here I Encounter The Most Popular Fallacy Of Our Times. It Is Not Considered Sufficient That The Law Should Guarantee To Every Citizen The Free And Inoffensive Use Of His Faculties For Physical, Intellectual And Moral Self-improvement. Instead, It Is Demanded That The Law Should Directly Extend Welfare, Education, And Morality Throughout The Nation. This Is The Seductive Lure Of Socialism. And I Repeat: These Two Uses Of The Law Are In Direct Contradiction To Each Other.

Who Then Would Not Like To See These Benefits Flow Upon The World From The Law, As From An Inexhaustible Source? But Is It Possible? Whence Does The State Draw Those Resources That It Is Urged To Dispense By Way Of Benefits To Individuals? Is It Not From The Individuals Themselves? How, Then, Can These Resources Be Increased By Passing Through The Hands Of A Parasitic And Voracious Intermediary?