Wealth Redistribution Part One

It should be known that when I use the term “altruism” or “altruist” I am referring to a group or individual that would advocate collectivizing or nationalizing the altruist ideal and not the individual who is charitable of his own personal volition. People should be charitable but they should never be forced to surrender their property in the name of compassion.

Let’s define what wealth redistribution is in clear terms. Whoever takes it upon himself to redistribute wealth says that the wealth belongs to that person. In other words, if government is the agent of redistributing wealth then that wealth, your wealth, belongs to the government. This is basically saying the individual is nothing more than a sacrificial animal whose purpose it is to serve the greater good of society.

The altruist believes that some individuals’ productive efforts should be taken away and given to other people who did not produce it by imposing significantly higher taxes on the most successful individuals and companies in our nation. This is class warfare in which one class of people, those who do not produce or earn wealth pit themselves against another class of people, those who produce or earn wealth to take a portion of their wealth, therefore causing harm to that group of individuals, not to mention damaging the integrity of property rights in the process.

During the Presidential elections Barrack Obama told Joe the Plumber that he wanted to spread the wealth around. Basically what Obama was saying is that the government should seize the wealth of successful folks in the name of equity.


However, the Constitution is very strong on property rights. It was Hugo Chavez who said, the United States Constitution is too individualistic and ought to be reformed to be more socialist.

The stated policies of Barrack Obama seem to agree with Mr. Chavez. Listen carefully to this audio recording:



In the audio we hear Obama’s frustration that the Constitution places too much restriction on government when he complained about the Warren Court didn’t go far enough to facilitate redistributive economic policies. What Obama was really hoping for was for the courts to impose a “right” to welfare.

What wealth redistribution really amounts too is wealth confiscation and legalized plunder. One could also call it “nationalizing your pocket book”.

Frederic Bastiat (French economist and theorist in the mid 1800’s) points out that once the government over steps the clear line between the protective role into the aggressive role of redistributing the wealth and providing so called benefits for some of its citizens; it becomes a means for what he accurately described as legalized plunder.

Bastiat explains legal plunder:

“When a portion of wealth is transferred from the person who owns it—without his consent and without compensation, and whether by force or by fraud—to anyone who does not own it, then I say that property is violated; that an act of plunder is committed…

How is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them. And gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen by himself cannot do without committing a crime…”

John Locke said: “The people cannot delegate to government the power to do anything which would be unlawful for them to do themselves.

What Bastiat and Locke observed and what Karl Marx accurately describes as class struggle is really “class warfare” where each class or special interest group competes to sway the balance of governmental power in their favor. This is also a fair description of democracy. In fact it was Karl Marks who said “Democracy is the road to socialism.”

It is Marxist doctrine that says, a human being is primarily an economic creature. In other words, his material well-being is what’s important; his privacy and freedom are secondary. It is this altruistic doctrine that views men as sacrificial animals.

The altruist says your productive efforts belong to society and government is the principle agent that enforces the will of society. What the government doesn’t tax is a gift to you from them. This insidious doctrine is irresponsible and puts the individual on the road to becoming a kept citizen because the redistribution of wealth consumes the fruits of his labor and since property rights are essential to liberty it also robs him of his liberty.