Common Sense to Anybody But Rothbardian Libertarians

“[T]he public power is entrusted to [princes] that they may be the guardians of justice…. [W]hatever is taken by violence of this kind is not the spoils of robbery, since it is not contrary to justice.” –St. Thomas Aquinas, Bomb-Throwing Alinskyite Communist

It is mysterious to me how words like “redistribution of wealth” have taken on the same stench as “running puppies through meat grinders”. Virtually all the state has ever done is take some of your money and redistribute it for some common good. That’s called “taxation”. There can, of course, be unjust redistribution of wealth, as when that state grabs your money and uses it to bail out some rich crony who has decided he is too big to fail after he mismanaged his affairs, or when the state spends it on bridges to nowhere or hammers for $4000 a pop. But mere redistribution is not thereby shown to be an evil. It’s simply what the state does.