When the government takes away the crutch

 Nobody has the right to the product of anyone else's labor. For example, you don't have the "right" to tap water unless you're paying for it, because the people installing the pipes and treating the water must get paid; nothing is "free" if someone else must work to produce it. However, you do have the right to free water if you are willing to get it yourself by drawing it from a natural body of water. 

At the same time, nobody has the right to restrict your access to the means of life. Suppose laws are made saying that you are not allowed to dig a well, and you're not allowed to go to the river and collect buckets of water. In that case, the tables have turned: the people who prevent you from getting water yourself are now obligated to provide you with the water that is at least as pure as river water or well water.

If the State deprives you of the means to obtain water, the State must provide you with free water or compensate you so you can purchase it yourself. 

Likewise, if the State deprives you of accessing other resources, such as the funds to secure food, shelter, and medical care, then you have the right to compensation. Specifically, when the State obstructs or prohibits peaceful commerce, the people have a right to be compensated for the opportunities denied them.

The State makes life more difficult and expensive in several ways.

• Monetary inflation, which is a means by which a State's central bank finances government debt, leads to price increases for essential goods and services.

• State-mandated licenses and certifications to enter certain lines of work prevent individuals from hiring whom they'd prefer.

• Regulation of wages and prices makes it prohibitively costly for newcomers to enter some industries.

• Tariffs and other taxes raise the price of goods and prevent access to some goods.

For instance, the State bans the sale of raw milk. The seller loses the income from willing buyers and can rightfully demand compensation from the State for those losses. And the buyers, denied food they deem healthy but that the State deems unhealthy, can rightly hold the State responsible for providing them with food and health care.

The State-funded channels of income support are collectively called the Welfare State. The people don't have a "right" to the tax-funded "free" programs of the Welfare State, but they do have a right to compensation when their freedom to participate in commerce is taken away. 

Harry Browne (1933-2006) was a writer, activist, and 2-time Libertarian Party nominee for President. In a 2002 column about how the U.S. "helps" Israel, Browne wrote, "The same routine is used by our government at home – causing problems and then running to the rescue in education, health care, charity, farming, business, and most other areas of society.  Government is good at one thing: It knows how to break your legs, hand you a crutch, and say, 'See, if it weren't for the government, you wouldn't be able to walk.'" 

Harry Browne at the 1998 Libertarian Party Convention. PHOTO: Carol Moore

The State breaks your leg when it hinders your ability to engage in commerce. Welfare programs are the crutch that it gives you. It's a vicious cycle that fosters dependence on The State. In the State's eyes, that's its feature: the people are loyal to "the System" because they have no options: "Yes, the State did break my leg, but where else can I get a crutch?"  

What if the State increases its burdens and takes away even more of your freedoms, and then takes away your crutch?

I was thinking of this as SNAP benefits are reduced and delayed during the government "shutdown." Forty-two million Americans use this food assistance program; food banks and other charities will face quite the challenge in picking up the slack.

President Trump's nationalist economic policies have damaged American businesses with tariffs and ICE raids, but food was still on the table. Now the crutch has been taken away. The absence may be brief, but a smaller crutch will take its place.

It almost feels like a non-verbal "social contract" has been violated. American politicians continue to do what they do: run up deficits, create foreign enemies, impose a police state, and little by little just make life worse for us. That may have been tolerable because we always had something to eat. And now that's no longer a certainty.

Perhaps more people will begin to wonder what some of us have been wondering for a long time: What is the point of this federal government? Why do we need this?

Why do we have to live like this?

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James Leroy Wilson writes The MVP Chase (subscribe) and JL Cells (subscribe). Thank you for your subscriptions and support! You can contact James for writing, editing, research, and other work at jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com.