The Joy of Free Stuff

     Most people like free stuff.  "Free" is one of the most
alluring words in the English language.  Advertisers endlessly
troll with "free" to lure customers.  "Free" is usually a lie.

     In the strictest sense "free" is always a lie.  Nothing is
free.  Someone must pay with the effort it takes to produce "free
stuff."  Even the air you breathe isn't free.  Someone must
produce food to provide the energy to inhale the air.  Free at
most means that someone else pays.

     Most of the free stuff isn't even free for the person who
gets it.  Stores abound with bottles and boxes proclaiming "25
percent more FREE."  How free is that 25 percent?

     Take an empty bottle to the store.  Ask a clerk to pour
your free 25 percent into the bottle.  If the 25 percent is really
free, the clerk will at least let you pour out your free share.  Or,
tell the clerk that you don't want to buy five bottles with 25
percent free in each.   Instead say you prefer one free bottle. 
See how far you get.  The most that "25 percent free" means is
that the price was reduced.

     Some free stuff is really free to you.  Merchants and
others give free samples to introduce new products.  Of course,
if you start buying the product, you may be paying for your free
sample.

     Some of the most costly free stuff is that for which you
pay nothing at the time you get the free stuff.  How can that be?

     Christmas gifts you receive are free, if you don't consider
the social obligation to reciprocate.   How often does someone
get a present that they don't really want?  The golden rule strikes
again.  He who has the gold makes the rules.  He who provides
the gold to pay for the gift can select the gift.

     When we rely on free stuff, we give up control of our
lives.  We get what someone else wants us to have.  Ask
teenagers about that.  Many teens aren't pleased with getting
what their parents want them to have.  They can grow out of
that problem.

     When family and friends provide free stuff they
commonly try to provide things the recipient wants.  Even then
they may fail.

     Donors who use their own resources to provide free stuff
are likely to want that free stuff to be of value to the recipient. 
Second level donors who take from producers and give to
someone else are less concerned.  They operate on the principle
of easy come easy go.  Second level donors include common
thieves and government.

     The major source of "free stuff" is government. 
Individuals endlessly demand more, more and more.  Free
education, free medical services, free roads, free rides, free food,
free housing, free cell phones, etc., etc.

     Customers are kings.  When you buy you can exercise
the full power of your kingship.  The merchant provides what
you want at a price you are willing to pay, or you don't buy.

     Those who rely on free stuff lose their kingship.  They
must settle for what their donor is willing to provide.  Ask
families trapped in failing inner city schools how they like the
free schools?

     The more people rely on free stuff from government, the
more they surrender control over their own lives.  The idea that
laws can protect the recipients of government gifts from control
by government is bogus.

     How much control do individuals have over free
government schools and roads?  Control over free government
medical services is rapidly slipping from those who receive the
free services.  The road to serfdom is paved with free stuff.

     Not only that, those who get the "free stuff" are paying
for it.  They are paying for their own enslavement.  Those who
rely on government free stuff are trapped forever to live the life
of a teenager with parents who don't know much about them, or
care.

aldmccallum@gmail.com
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Copyright 2013
Albert D. McCallum