Jonquil Wegmann is correct to believe that corporate welfare is a disgusting phenomenon (Iowa State Daily, September 19, 1997), as all forms of cannibalism are.

A leech by any other name is still a leech, and it is true that many corporations in our country receive an enormous amount of handouts from the government.

These handouts are, of course, paid for by you, me and all other taxpayers.

What surprises me about Ms. Wegmann’s article is her attempt to try to shift the alligator label from the poor welfare recipients to the rich welfare recipients, rather than admitting that both groups receive wealth extorted from the taxpayers.

The alligator analogy is inappropriate to either group. I offer a more accurate analogy; picture a smiling politician wearing a butcher’s apron and wielding a huge cleaver. Also on the scene is a corporate CEO and a destitute woman and her baby.

Our friendly politician lops off the arm of the poor woman, who nearly drops her baby as she winces in pain.

The smiling politician takes a few bites of the best meat, then turns to the CEO and says, “Look what I’ve got for you!”

He feeds the woman’s arm to the greedy CEO who gobbles it up so quickly, chunks of meat fall to the ground.

The politician then looks thoughtfully at the CEO’s leg and starts whacking at it with the cleaver.

The CEO howls in pain, but soon the happy politician has his prize, and after savoring the best of the leg meat, he turns to the poor woman and hands her the leg, which she and her child feast on like ravenous dogs.

The politician is satisfied with the scene and he says, “So, remember, I’m the one who feeds you, vote for me in the next election!”

It is no wonder many people are suffering and blame that suffering on other groups.

One example is touched on by Ms. Wegmann’s article; the rich feel that the poor are leeching off of them and, conversely, the poor feel that the rich are taking advantage of them.

We have been successfully divided into groups that cannibalize each other.

The political system of our country enforces this cannibalization process through the IRS.

The IRS is armed and has the authority to take all of your possessions and/or throw you in prison if you choose not to be a host organism to parasites; that is, if you choose not to pay taxes (for the horrible truth, see books by James Bovard and David Burnham).

This situation is obviously unjust.

According to civilized standards of justice, an individual should be able to keep what wealth he has earned or gained through non-coercive, non-fraudulent means.

The government’s job in a just society is to ensure that no one initiates force against another person. The government should be the defender of the peaceful citizen.

The problem currently is that the majority of people unwittingly support a system in which we are all encouraged to feed on the wealth stolen from taxpayers.

If we are to live in a truly just society, we need to stop supporting this cannibalistic system.

You can learn more about my political philosophy by attending an “Objectivists at ISU” meeting. (Contact Kyle at [email protected]) Or you can read Ayn Rand books in Parks Library. Also, try the web using keywords “objectivism,” “Ayn Rand,” and “libertarianism.”

---

Scott Adam Johnson

Tempe, Arizona