“Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.”
-Frédéric Bastiat
ZeroHedge readers may recall that Louisiana rapper, Maine Muzik, shown above with the cash, said during a YouTube video recording that he would kill Donald Trump if his, "Mamma's food stamps are taken away."
Donald Trump trying to take food stamps from my mamma and that’s all the fuck she’s got. As long as the motherfucking government let us keep food stamps… we gonna be good, but the first time this nigga pass a law talking about he taking Louisiana purchase, shit going to get ugly. I swear to god on every motherfucking chain I got, bitchez gonna go down.
You gotta understand them (inaudible) love Fruit Loops. They love that shit so if you take that shit nigga it’s coming with the madness and a nigga ain’t gonna play about that. Y'all take Donald Trump and let him know it's up over here. We gonna declare war.
Many Americans, like Mr. Muzik, clearly believe they and their Mamma are entitled to free food, housing, public utilities, transportation, healthcare, education, and, "that shit." For a black twenty-something like Mr. Muzik, I imagine that it has probably always been that way. The thought simply may not occur to him that either he or his mother should work at a job to provide things like food for the family, rather than rely on others to provide for them, like my livestock relies on me for food, shelter, veterinary care, training, etc. As someone that has worked non-government jobs since before I was 14, and been forced by threat of imprisonment to give more than 20% of my earnings to pay for Mother Muzik's Fruit Loops, et cetera, I am tempted to harbor deep resentments against blacks. These resentments might be manifested in "micro-aggressions" such as a mere look on my face of utter contempt for the many 300+ pound, black, professional voters on government disability due solely to obesity, yet still employable in a variety of jobs, which I encounter almost every day here in Texas driving a "free" electric scooterchair, often times snacking on "free" junk food purchased with a SNAP card, or travelling from a "free" doctor's visit to get a prescription for "free" medicines to "treat" illnesses like depression, high blood pressure, and low energy. I think that readers could easily imagine how it is very easy for me to resent such behaviors.
However, if my head is clear, I will sometimes hear the voice of Murry Rothbard. I then try to remind myself that by doing for these people what they could and should be doing for themselves, our government is intentionally preventing these, "descendants of slaves," from ever being truly free. As Lyndon Johnson supposedly said, "I'll have those niggers voting Democratic for 200 years."
Fortunately, with the help of Rothbard's teachings, these resentments I might have for my neighbor can be transformed into disdain for The State, and, if I am thinking right, this allows me to instead love my neighbor, which is a much healthier choice for me, and for my soul. After all, Jesus never commanded us to love thy government. Said another way, in a slightly more modern translation, "Don't hate da playa, hate da game."
My mother was visiting our home and noticed that one of her grandchildren was doing his own laundry. She reminded me that:
"Your father never once washed his own clothes. His mother did his laundry until he got married and moved in with me, then I did his laundry for more than 50 years, while I also worked a full-time job until I was 70 years old, always earning more money than your father, and I raised you three children, and cooked dinner every night for you, while your father sat on the couch, drank booze, and watched television."
Of course, my father felt entitled to have someone do his laundry and make him dinner. It had always been that way for him. Being a raging co-dependent, my mother certainly felt like she was the victim in the relationship, yet she chose to act this way for more than 50 years. Dad has been dead for a while, now, but Mom still, quite obviously, carries her resentments with her. They weigh heavy on her happiness, still, and are hard to give up.
I took the chance to tell my mother that I have learned something valuable. That by doing for my father what he could and should have done for himself, she was stealing from him the opportunity to develop his self esteem. Although she may have thought she was helping him, she was actually hurting him. This is why her grandsons and I do our own laundry and take turns with mrs_horseman in the kitchen, despite the way she raised me.
I recently met a very intelligent and successful working woman in a small group of people that was discussing personal finance. This woman is in debt, and so she mentioned to us that she and her husband are awfully tired of paying their two daughters' smart phone bills, which were costing them several hundred dollars each month. The other parents all nodded in sympathy...except for me.
I asked her, "How old are your daughters?" She seemed a bit embarrassed by my question, then answered that they were in their 30s, both married, and both working professionals with advanced degrees. I explained that by doing for her children what they could and should do for themselves, she was stealing from her daughters, and sons-in-law, this opportunity to develop their self esteem. Although she wanted to help them, she was actually hurting them.
When I spoke with her several days later, she was very happy to tell me that she had stopped paying for her daughters' smartphones. She said one daughter told her it was, "the meanest thing you have ever done to me," but the other daughter actually thanked her, and admitted that it had really been bothering her and her husband, but they didn't want to say anything.
I notice this type of behavior all of the time, now, one entity doing for another what it could and should do for itself, prevents the creation of self-esteem (self worth) and causes massive entitlement and resentment in the process.
- Parents do their child's homework, and believe that they are helping them learn. The child believes they are entitled to have someone do their work for them and to receive good grades, and the parent becom es resentful when the child fails out of college.
- Central banks print money and believe that they are creating jobs in a nation's economy. Investors believe they are entitled to eternally rising markets. The people become resentful of the declining value of the nation's currency, and a some traders and investors resent the loss of price discovery in a market flooded with free money.
- Lawmakers dictate what people can buy, sell, or trade, believing they are protecting the consumer. Big producers believe they are entitled to guaranteed profits and protection from competition, while consumers become resentful of The Nanny State.
- The United States of America invades, destroys, and occupies a foreign nation like Afghanistan, and believes that we are helping the Afghani people build their nation.
I hope that readers will add more instances of this human behavior in the comments section, below. I have been thinking about this topic for quite a long time, and this article was very difficult for me to write. Race, family, education, freedom, and money are not easy things to think about in a vacuum. If you are interested in doing more for yourself, and talking about these issues with others, then please consider attending the First ZeroHedge Symposium and Live Fight Club in Marfa, Texas, June 16-18. We have a fantastic group of speakers talking about a wide variety of topics, all with the theme of disintermediation.
Life, liberty, property, and peace!
h_h