Greg, I disagree with you on this one. Here's my letter to the editor:

A common ploy of collectivists who wish to disparage individual rights is to play the “selfishness” card. If you support the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, i.e. oppose government redistribution of your wealth, then you are “blinded by self interest,” in Greg Harton’s words. Your right to the fruits of your labor is off his radar. Instead, the good citizen should sacrifice himself to “serve the community’s children.”

Why is someone paying their own way, paying for their own (or own children’s) education, a bad thing? What justifies shoving the cost onto single and childless people? Harton implies that funding government schools by tax robbery is necessary to have a good and educated community. This is like saying that, since corn is good for the community, that government corn subsidies are necessary to grow corn. Clearly, neither corn farmers nor breeders have a right to subsidies.

Harton’s example of road funding undermines his point, since gas taxes are a type of user fee - one that non-drivers don’t pay. Collecting from actual users of schools rather than property owners in general is just and fair. Forced collectivism is not. If supporting individual rights makes me selfish, so be it.

Posted by: Hogeye

January 16, 2013 at 11:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )