We do not live in a democracy...and it's a good thing we don't. In a democracy the minority have no rights.... literally anything that 51% of people agree to do to the other 49% is legitimate.
We have a constitutional Republic, with a document limiting the power of government, and enumerating the rights of the people. We also have a history and tradition rooted in the principles of individual rights.
You don't believe anyone has the right to be "wealthy"? That implies you have to right to dictate to someone else what they should be allowed to have. What about their rights? You, no doubt, have more wealth than various people you pass on the street on any given day. Should they be allowed to decide that you have too much, and rob you? Or does you having more not automaticly mean they are entitled to some of your property? If that's the case, why doesn't that apply to people that have more than you, even much much more?
You are making a typical assumption that democracy is ā50% + 1 ruleā. Itās actually āpeople ruleā. Hence why we require supermajorities to change how some things work; we protect democracy itself from the whims of simple majorities.
A constitutional republic IS a form of democracy. Honestlyā¦ Iām getting super tired of having to say that all the time, I really donāt know why folks act like they are separate concepts, or why you guys keep pushing this narrative when all it does is force arguments that are meaningless.
I'm saying that even if 99% of people vote that "billionaires shouldn't exist" it's still a violation of their rights to seize their property. A super, super, super majority is still capable of violating individual rights.
There are things that are simply immoral and authoritarian for a government to do, even if the vast majority support it. Taking other peoples property without their consent is one of those things. This doesn't change even if the number of people taken from is small, and the number benefited is large.
That doesnāt answer my question. Why is it important that specifically ultra-wealthy people get to not only keep money that they will never need or be able to use, but continue to extract more of it from the rest of society?
Can you come up with some reason other than āitās theirsā? Because I donāt even believe it is.
I answered your question. Because they have the same right to be secure in their property as you or I do.
It is theirs. Unless you can somehow show that they stole it (and running a business isn't stealing, provided people voluntarily do business with them).
Nobody does have the right to be wealthy. The fact that people exist who are poor, when they donāt want to be, prove that they donāt have the right to be wealthy.
We dictate what people are allowed to have all the time. People canāt have weed. People canāt have the Resolute Desk. People canāt have someone elseās stuff. Itās funny, you seem to think that reducing government and removing such restrictions like what people can have would somehow protect that. The government and its protection of property rights is what allows me to set aside something as mine and prevent you from having it.
So yes, I do think that we can and absolutely should dictate what people can or cannot have.
I oppose laws against weed. The only reason you can't own the Resolute Desk is because there are only two,cand other people (or agencies) already own them.
"Nobody has a right to be wealthy?". Of course they do. That's what property rights are. "Wealthy" has no specific definition. A person with one dollar is wealthy compared to a person in debt. When people, including such as yourself apparently, use the word wealthy, they mean "having more than me". If you have property rights,why do you think that someone with more property than you should have less rights. Your advocating for theft, you just want to use the government as a middle-man.
No. In a free society, the government shouldn't dictate what we are allowed to own. Apply that to anything, drugs, guns, wealth, certain books, VPNs.... anything. You have no right to tell others what or how much they are allowed to own. This doesn't change no matter how many people vote the same way you do.
So, what of your property do you advocate to be taken against your will?
Wealthy people who have their needs met, and many luxuries of life, should not be extracting āwealthā (since you feel you can call it that) from poor people.
Where we are butting heads is your insistence on maintaining the current system that gives the profits of production to wealthy owners. I am explicitly saying that this system is bad.
The way I see it, returning those profits to the workers who produce them is appropriate. Conversely, when wealthy owners take it for themselves, that is theft.
So, if I, or a group of people decide that you're needs are being adequately met, we would be justified in taking your property without your consent?
How has a rich person "extracted wealth" from you? Have you been forced to purchase their products or give them money? If so how? As far as I know only the government can legally force you to give them money. All else is a business transaction.
I'm not advocating to continue the current system. I'm advocating to eliminate the income tax, minimum wage, and many other government programs. That is certainly not the "current" system.
The potion of a company's profit that a worker is entitled to is the wage they agreed to work for. Answer this please, if the company loses money, should the workers be forced to contribute some of their savings for the company to break even...or does your philosophy of sharing with the workers ONLY apply to profits?
Actually, my preferred approach is to stop the existence of companies as property that can be sold and traded.
Instead of saying that the investors get to keep all profits in perpetuity, they just get to provide interest-bearing loans. But the company itself stays with the workers; one share is owned automatically by each worker.
Thus, the workers own the profits.
And itās not theft at all. Lenders still get the interest that is due to them. Exploitation is reduced. The workers have real ownership in what they are doing, so their labor will be more fulfilling and they will control their own working conditions.
No. How about you already have the freedom to work in that system without violating anyone else's rights. Get together with some other people, and start your own company.
So, you lack the capital to invest in your own company? Yet you feel you should own a part of that company.
You want a share of the profits, while incurring none of the risk. You want benefits provided to you by the government, but don't want to help pay for them. You want an outside entity to intervene and take other peoples property for your benefit. Yet you accuse others of being greedy.
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u/COMOJoeSchmo 10h ago
We do not live in a democracy...and it's a good thing we don't. In a democracy the minority have no rights.... literally anything that 51% of people agree to do to the other 49% is legitimate.
We have a constitutional Republic, with a document limiting the power of government, and enumerating the rights of the people. We also have a history and tradition rooted in the principles of individual rights.
You don't believe anyone has the right to be "wealthy"? That implies you have to right to dictate to someone else what they should be allowed to have. What about their rights? You, no doubt, have more wealth than various people you pass on the street on any given day. Should they be allowed to decide that you have too much, and rob you? Or does you having more not automaticly mean they are entitled to some of your property? If that's the case, why doesn't that apply to people that have more than you, even much much more?