Wednesday, April 05, 2006
More Communitarians
Occam of the Carbuncle improves on my analysis of communitarianism:
. . . Liberty Corner offers a convenient compass for navigating the political jungle.
"The communitarian state is simply too seductive. It co-opts its citizens through progressive corruption: higher spending to curry favor with voting blocs, higher taxes to fund higher spending and to perpetuate the mechanisms of the state, still higher spending, and so on. Each voting bloc insists on sustaining its benefits -- and increasing them at every opportunity -- for one of two reasons. Many voters actually believe that largesse of the communitarian state is free to them, and some of them are right. Other voters know better, but they grab what they can get because others will grab it if they don't." . . .
I would add a third type of communitarian voter to Tom's list - the one who knows the state's largesse is not free, but sincerely believes that the strictly enforced "compassion" of collectivist initiatives is the best way. This voter is typically driven by a belief in the inevitability of poverty and a sort of noblesse oblige toward the less "fortunate". Typically, the paying of taxes is viewed by this sort of voter as a sacred duty and even a privilege. The state is seen as a massive charitable organization.
Spot on.
