Quotation of the Day…
by Don Boudreaux
on December 4, 2020
… is from page 123 of my late, great colleague Walter Williams’s 2015 book, American Contempt for Liberty, which is a collection of many of Walter’s columns and essays; this quotation specifically is from Walter’s February 19th, 2014, syndicated column, “Concealing Evil”:
This is why socialism is evil. It employs evil means, confiscation and intimidation, to accomplish what are often seen as noble goals — namely, helping one’s fellow man. Helping one’s fellow man in need by reaching into one’s own pockets to do so is laudable and praiseworthy. Helping one’s fellow man through coercion and reaching into another’s pockets is evil and worthy of condemnation. Tragically, most teachings, from the church on down, support government use of one person to serve the purposes of another; the advocates cringe from calling it such and prefer to call it charity or duty.
DBx: A hissing viper isn’t transformed into a lovely songbird by calling it “nightingale.” And this reality isn’t altered in the least if the hissing viper is brought on to the scene by someone who, in his or her ignorance, truly believes that vipers are lovelier than nightingales and safer to be near.
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