Welfare State on the Street Where You Live (Tibor Machan)
Q1- Why does Machan use "steal" in his statement: "Private property solves this problem, but was abandoned a long time ago when taxes reached the point where we can steal our way to being provided with all sorts of things we desire, never mind thinking about paying for them or long-range budgeting?"

Machan uses steal in his statement to refer to those people who, while not needing assistance take it. The definition of taking something that is not rightfully yours is stealing. Those who take things they don’t need are taking them away from people that do.

Q2- Machan said: "For that which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it." Give two examples of this from your personal experience.

In my ninth grade English class, my teacher had a box of 150 pens that she said could be used by everyone so long as they returned it. There was no consequence if the pen was not returned, so everybody just took a pen for himself or herself, and didn’t bother to replace them. Everyone just expected them to be there, almost like a free handout. By the end of the year, there were only two or three pens left in the box.

Another example of this is the CD collection my family and I share. Sometimes when these CD’s are borrowed, they are not returned in mint condition because they are everybody’s. If there’s a problem with a CD, we can be more inclined to let the next person fix it rather than fixing it ourselves. However, if that CD were ours, we would take much better care of it. 

Q3- Do you agree with Machan that "...everybody is more inclined to neglect the duty which he expects another to fulfill; as in families many attendants are often less useful than a few."? Give an objective example of this.

 

Yes. A very simple, yet telling example of this can be seen in household pets. Children often plead with their parents to get them a pet. They promise their parents that if they get the pet they’ll feed and take care of it. But inevitably, the child neglects his duty because he soon learns that if he doesn’t take care of it, his parents will. Even though it is his duty, he knows his parents will take care of it, and for the most part won’t bother.

 

Are We Going the Way of Rome? (Lawrence Reed)

Q4- State Kershner's First Law.  Do you agree or disagree and why?

Kershner's first law is, “When a self-governing people confer upon their government the power to take from some and give to others, the process will not stop until the last bone of the last taxpayer is picked bare.” I agree. This is because once people start taking from others and doing nothing for themselves the process becomes hard to reverse. The government becomes so dependent on the taxpayers and wastes so much money that the only way to sustain themselves is to tax people to death.

Q5- What industry was the first to be taken over by government in both ancient Rome and the USA?

This first industry taken over was wheat.

Q6- Is cheapened money the cause or the outcome of inflation? Explain.

Cheapened money is the cause of inflation. The reason for this is that when money is cheapened, it loses its purchasing power. More currency is available, and because of this things become less valuable. As it is with all things, the fewer the number, the greater the value. 

Q7- How did the Edict of 301 affect Rome's economy?

It made the economy worse because people refused to sell their goods. Prices skyrocketed to the point where any form of economic activity was pointless. They could not get a reasonable price for things.

 Liberty and Individual Responsibility (Dwight R. Lee)

Q8- Lee claims that individuals could be "entirely independent of others" except for what? Explain.

He says we could be independent except for scarcity. He says that because resources are scarce we must learn to interact with each other and that this shapes social interactions. He says that scarcity itself would impose on us more restrictions than social rules.

Q9- Describe the dilemma concerning rules as discussed by Lee.

He says that some rules can actually contribute to liberty. The main dilemma is to strike a balance where rules contribute to liberty, but are not so lax that chaos ensues. They also need to not be so structured that they confine liberty.

Q10- Why is the concept of private property crucial to freedom?

Private property is crucial to freedom for several reasons. The first is that when we have private property, individual rights are better defined. This is because there is a clear understanding between two parties that one owns the land, and because he owns it, he has the RIGHT to do what he would with it.

Second, it encourages honesty and cooperation because, when dealing with property, it is in both parties self interest to be honest, and people are motivated by self-interest. With honesty comes accountability, which private property also fosters. As Lee says, “When an individual owns a resource, he is fully accountable for this cost.

In general, it is crucial to freedom because it encourages honesty, hard work, accountability and self-reliance; all characteristics that make a free society succeed. 

Lawrence Reed's testimony before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee.
Q11- Argue both pro and con that in his testimony Lawrence Reed was advocating compassion and aid for the poor.

Pro- Reed was advocating compassion and aid for the poor. In his article, he sharply criticized people who didn’t need government help but took it anyway. This is shown when he says, “Just as surely, some of these sturdy people gave in and began to feed at the public trough in the belief that if they didn't get it, somebody else would.” Nowhere in this entire article does it say that people shouldn’t help those in need. If anything, it says that they should be helped, just not with monetary handouts. He advocates the poor overcoming their situations by having initiative, personal responsibility, and hard work.

Con- Reed was not advocating compassion and aid for the poor. He believes that people should be self reliant, and not rely on anybody but themselves to get what they need. He demonstrates this by showing the extremely high cost of public welfare programs, and shows the corruption that they have.

Q12- "If people are free, they will not earn equal incomes; conversely, show me a people who have equal incomes and I will show you a people who are not free." Explain in your own words Mr. Reed's meaning.

 

Reed says that in places where incomes vary, freedom exists. He says this because there’s a marketplace of both goods and ideas, and those that people want or like more will have more success than those that they don’t.