Within a few weeks—or even a few days—many of us overcome
such thoughts, abandon our resolutions to do better, and settle back into familiar
patterns, including the narcotic belief that what happens to us is largely a
matter of fate and fortune and little related to our efforts and actions. Successful people are seen as more
“fortunate” than others, who somehow owe
something to the “less fortunate,” especially if we consider ourselves among
the “less fortunate.” How else could
rational people conjure up the palpably false claim that it is fair to demand and take the property of
more successful people and give it to those who have done little or nothing to
earn it, who in fact have in many ways squandered their wealth and
opportunities for success?
Had we as a nation embraced the principle that what a man or
woman earns is his or hers to use or keep or share as he or she wishes, we
would have avoided the weeks-long political soap opera called “the fiscal
cliff.” The misleading story proffered
by the institutional media is that our nation is on the edge of economic
calamity because Congress—meaning by implication the Republicans in the Congress—is
unwilling to do its job. In fact, there
are important fundamental principles at the heart of the disagreement between
congressional Republicans and President Obama, namely whether cutting
government spending—mostly government give away programs—should be postponed by
raising taxes on the “wealthy” and independent businesses, and moreover whether
raising any taxes on a weak economy makes economic sense. There is a growing gap in views over these
principles. But for the national cult of
coveting there would not be one, but there is, and sooner or later it will be
too wide to bridge.
Without this disagreement, we would address excessive
government spending the same way that families do. Families that spend more than they earn will
either borrow (within their means to support debt), reduce spending, or earn
more, or some combination of these. Our
government has almost exclusively relied upon borrowing (beyond our ability to
support it without foreign help), has increased its spending, and has “earned”
less.
On this last point, keep in mind that governments do not
earn anything; people do. Governments
take what people earn. Government
policies over the years have reduced economic growth below the growth of
government, inhibiting the ability of people to earn, which in turn undermines
what our government can afford. This
trend has not been getting any better and has brought us to economic crisis. A refocus on economic growth, not government
growth, is what is needed, but there lies the disagreement in Washington
In that context, I take advantage of the year-end season of
better rationality—however brief—to propose that the bells we sound for the new
year ring out the old and destructive coveting for the fruits of others’ labors
and ring in the determination to improve our own condition by our own
labors. I propose that for you and for
me and for our society as a whole we commit to rely more upon ourselves and to
unleash our creative powers for growth and prosperity. In the same way we will increase our ability
and willingness to help others, but we will do so as a healthy exercise of our
free will. Government cannot be
generous, for there is no generosity in distributing other people’s money. But the individual people who make up society can and
will open their hands to those around them, as Americans have more than any
other people for more than two centuries.
More productive ourselves, we will have more means to share and better
judgment about how to share it—ennobling to ourselves and to those we choose to
aid.
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