Asking the Mayor to Mug your Neighbor for a "Good" Cause

At the recent City of Eagle Budget Hearing, a number of well-meaning
city employees, grant recipients, and their family members lined up to
testify on behalf of increasing the size of local government programs.
The Mayor and Council members listened intently to their emotional
reasoning.

I waited for the Mayor and City Council to open up their own wallets
and make donations. Hell is still uncomfortably warm. These budget
hearings are like two coyotes and a sheep voting on what to eat for
dinner.

Don't be confused. Almost everyone is in favor of parks, and
libraries, and art, and museums. The issue is not the value of these
programs; the issue is how they are funded.

These well-meaning benefactors of government largess are asking the
Mayor to use the police power of government to take this money from
their friends and neighbors by force. If you think threatening your
neighbor with a gun in order to fund these programs is immoral, why is
it legitimate for the government to do it on your behalf?

The Mayor and the members of the City Council are free to donate their
own money. They can even deduct the donation from their taxable
income. As H. L. Mencken said, "Every election is a sort of advance
auction sale of stolen goods."

The next time you hear all the good that public programs provide,
don't forget all the good things that people cannot do for their
families because the government has taken their money and spent it on
a coyote's good cause.