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May the Force Not Be With You!

By Theresa Fritz Camoriano

Have you ever noticed that the people who claim to be the most caring and compassionate are the ones who are the most eager to use force?   

Take, for example, the four Democrat campaign workers in Milwaukee, who cared so fervently about their cause that they slashed the tires on vans that had been rented by Republicans to carry voters to the polls.  Two of the convicted slashers were the sons of Democrat officials -- Sowande A. Omokunde, the son of Democratic U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, and Michael Pratt, the son of former acting Milwaukee Mayor Marvin Pratt.  At least in that case, the folks who were wielding force against the private property of innocent people were convicted of a crime and will do time in jail.  Unfortunately, in many other cases, the initiation of force against people and their property is perfectly legal.

Evo Morales, the new President of Bolivia had his troops occupy privately-owned oil and gas facilities to take them over “for the good of the people”.   According to Pat Buchanan,   “[T]he 82-18 split of gas royalties between the energy companies and the regime, which became 50-50 a year ago, is now 82-18 in favor of the government -- on Morales' orders. And that will be the end of new investment in gas exploration in Bolivia.”  Morales is carrying out his campaign promise of taking over the oil and gas industry, but, as Pat Buchanan explains, it will not result in a benefit to the people.  Instead, it will ruin the oil and gas industry in Bolivia, since the government doesn’t know how to run a business, and since it will discourage anyone from making any further investment in that industry.  Of course, it also will harm the economy as a whole, because investors who have seen what Morales did to the oil and gas industry will be afraid to invest in other industries, lest their industry be next.

You would think American politicians would realize how destructive it is to seize private property or even to theaten seizure, since they have seen the harm played out repeatedly throughout history, but, as with Bolivia’s Morales and Venezuela’s Chavez, American politicians like to play to the emotions of the people by offering to beat up on big bad corporations, in this case the oil companies, with a “windfall profits tax”.    Whether the government takes over an industry entirely or takes it gradually by increasing taxes or by hitting businesses with a “windfall profits” tax, the result is pretty much the same – a weakening of the industry and a disincentive to investors. 

The initiation of force, or even the threat of using force, against big business may make politicians popular, but it causes great harm to a wide range of people, including the consumers who depend on that industry’s products, the workers who depend on that industry for their jobs, and the investors who have invested their retirement funds in that industry.  And, as explained above, when investors see that the politicians are willing to go after one kind of business, they begin to be skittish about making investments in other businesses, thereby spreading the harm around.     

Unfortunately, these uses of force are just the tip of the iceburg.  Many politicians from both parties in the U.S. and numerous parties in various countries are rewarded by voters for initiating the use of force against various innocent people and their property, always claiming they are doing it for the “good of the people”.  They may appeal to people’s sense of entitlement, to envy, to the hatred of one group for another, or to other destructive human urges in their quest for votes.  Regardless of the alleged reason, the result always is destruction and harm.  If only more people realized that, when they promote harm to others, they are really harming themselves – essentially cutting off their noses to spite their faces.  But who can be expected to tell the truth when there is so much short-term benefit in the lies?  And who would want to listen to the truth anyway, when it makes you feel so good to claim that you are beating up on the bad guys?

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