Last week I replied to several letters to the editor in the local newspaper that were very critical of capitalism in that "the basic duty of the government is taking care of its citizens; their health, education and general welfare" and "rampant capitalism is where the poor get poorer, and unhoused (sic)." This got me ruminating, for my own clarification, about basic rights and how they are derived. What follows is certainly not new to Objectivists, but maybe there's a somewhat different angle on the subject.
Life is the basis for all other rights because without the right to life no other rights are possible. But this tenet is open to misinterpretation and the misinterpretation that socialists have drawn upon is that everyone has the right to expropriate the resources of anyone else in order to sustain their own life. The true meaning of "right to life" is that you, individually, have the right to exist and can justifiably resist those who wish to prevent you from existing. This is reciprocal and extends to all humans — and because of that fact, it contradicts the socialists' premise that your life, and the means to sustain it, belongs to all others.
The right to one's own life isn't restricted to merely existing. One can "exist" as a slave but a derivative from the right to "exist" is the right to be free of coercion — to pursue whatever one wishes, whether is be a whim or a lifelong, passionate desire, as long as it doesn't interfere with the same rights of others. However, men may choose to act cooperatively when it is in their mutual interest.
As a critic of socialism I have been accused of being mean spirited and selfish and I have decided to fight back. I consider myself a benevolent person, that is, I generally regard others in a favorable light — unless I find reason not to. I will go out of my way to accommodate friends and acquaintances with the tacit understanding that they would do likewise. Of course, if it becomes apparent that I'm being taken advantage of, I'll terminate it. If I can render assistance to a stranger without putting myself in harm's way or incurring a huge expense, I'll do so. I'll do whatever is reasonable.
However, there are those who consider themselves benevolent that take the position, "Because there are more of us than there are of you, you will support the social programs that we have judged to be helpful for society, despite your conviction that they are harmful, and we will expropriate your assets and, if you have circumvented that possibility, we will throw you in jail. You will kneel before your moral superiors and submit." When socialism is stripped of its homilies, platitudes, political correctness and saccharin its true nature is revealed — it is vicious and inimical to human well-being and prosperity. This of course, is a direct negation of the meaning of "benevolence" and exposes the contradictions that pervade the socialists' ideology. As a practical matter, if you think that the Great Depression of the '30s was a hard time for this nation, just wait until the productive people can no longer support the hordes who have been led to believe they are entitled "to be taken care of" by the proliferation of social programs. It may take 50 years but the '30s will seem like a raindrop on a tsunami.
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