Spread the wealth around. Legalize Stealing!

Finally, the candidates are making sense in the US election. There is little doubt that Obama is a socialist and if left unchecked will ruin the US economy (or whats left of it). His radical left wing activism is completely at odds with the American Dream. I'm glad there is a discussion on Socialism with barely a week left for the polling day.

A surprising majority of people don't seem to get the fairly obvious point that Socialism is immoral and illegal. The notion that hardworking part of the country should cover the backs of the lazy, incompetent losers is at once astonishing and outrageous. Governments aren't supposed to be run by Robinhoods.

People often confuse the welfare states of Scandinavia with 'real' states with limited resources that need to be managed judiciously. People need to understand what is an acceptable welfare measure and what is plain stealing. Universal Healthcare is acceptable. Only if its meant for all the citizens. Not when its so substandard that people who pay for it with their hard-earned tax money simply cannot use it.

Subsidized education is acceptable. Rebate checks for people who don't even pay taxes is plain robbery. Free electricity to farmers who otherwise don't have natural irrigation is acceptable. Loan waiver of 60,000 crores isn't. Easy credit for farmers and cooperative societies is acceptable. Outlandish interest rates on Post Office savings isn't. And I can go on and on.

US republicans are one of the last people left on the planet who understand the term governance. No man on earth is a slave of the government. A government is just an arrangement to achieve things that require mutual cooperation of the citizens. Defending against enemy attacks, printing money or maintaining public roads etc. For this the Government can levy reasonable taxes. But it has no business "spreading the wealth around".

Having said all this, I'm not denying the fierce urgency of eliminating poverty and giving millions of people a shot at happiness within their lifetimes. Governments can very well create opportunities for the poor to succeed with such policies as reservations or subsidized education. But the only faster way, the hard earned money of the rich can reach the poor is through charity.

Coming back to the US elections, irrespective of Obama's past as a loony left wing class warfare activist, I do want him to win. Because John McCain simply doesn't qualify. But Obama is taking office at the most inopportune time as for the economy goes. Either he can ruin his presidential legacy or let his economic policies ruin America. I hope he has the decency to keep his failed ideology outside the Oval office.