The Santa Clause Mindset

by | Oct 14, 2022

What kind of imbecile would believe that everyone can acquire and consume massive amounts of resources for “free”?

A child that’s who.

How can someone say “education should be free”? Are all the teachers unpaid volunteers? Did the construction workers who built the school get compensated?

They are lying and insinuating free is synonymous with the government confiscating money then paying for the service on behalf of citizens. As if money printing has no downsides and taxation does not exist.

Government pays for the military, is the military free?

The goalpost then moves to “well it’s free at the point of access.” Under that criteria everything is free so long as you use a credit card. Imagine saying, “everyone should have to pay 30% of their money to the Catholic Church, then the Catholic Church should give us free education and health care, and the Priests decide what counts as sufficient education and health care this way it’s free.”

Under every system costs exist.

The opportunity cost of time. The cost and downside of giving state employees the power to “educate” millions of children. The cost of using workers to build a house instead of working on a farm. Using concrete for a Cathedral vs. using it for a shopping mall or a cemetery.

Help us abolish The Santa Clause Mindset by buying one of our books or donating to the Libertarian Institute.

Keith Knight

Keith Knight

Keith Knight is Managing Editor at the Libertarian Institute, host of the Don't Tread on Anyone podcast and editor of The Voluntaryist Handbook: A Collection of Essays, Excerpts, and Quotes.

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