The Destructiveness of Parasites

Column for week of December 15, 2014

     So far we have seen how free people seek to better
serve others.  By better serving others, we get them to better
serve us.  In free markets the wealthiest people will be those
who best serve others.  We don't need a library full of laws
and legions of bureaucrats to motivate individuals to serve each
other.

     The baker who best serves his customers will have the
most customers.  If the baker is efficient he will earn more
income than will other bakers.  Quality service plus efficiency
equal wealth.  The individuals who are well served shouldn't
complain that the baker earns profits, even lots of profits. 
Profits are his reward for serving his customers.  The quest for
those rewards motivates us all to better serve others.  The
rewards might not be profits.  They can be wages, intangibles,
or something else.

     Also, we have seen the other way to gain wealth.  That
is to use force and threats to take from others.  Those who
resort to "Do it my way, or I will hurt you" don't gain their
wealth through increasing service to others.  They are parasites
who feed on others, rather than serve others.  They consume
without producing.  Unlike the baker, their gain is someone
else's loss.

     These parasites try to hide behind slogans and high
sounding names.  "I'm a parasite.  Give me something, or I will
hurt you" doesn't win much support.   "I'm a public servant. 
Sacrifice for the common good" plays better.  It shouldn't.

     The task at hand is to dissect some of these terms that
so impress some people.  You may want to hold your nose
while we cut into these sacred cows.

     What is the "common good?"  If it is good for
everyone, Why would anyone oppose it?  Everything happens
at the individual level.  Only individuals choose, act, enjoy or
suffer.  There are no common goods or bads.  The closest we
can come to common good is something that more than one
person considers to be good.  Even if everyone finds something
to be good, the good still exists only at the individual level.

     Hang on to your wallet and cover your back anytime
someone starts preaching about sacrificing for the common
good.  It may be good for some.  You can be certain it will be
bad for others.  Also, you can be sure that the one doing the
preaching expects it will be good for him, no matter how much
it hurts others.  Minimum wages may be good for those who
collect the higher pay.  The minimum wage isn't so good for
those who are unemployed because of it and get no pay at all.

     "Sacrifice for the common good" translates as "Sacrifice
for me and my friends."  The 
term definitely loses something in the translation.  It becomes a
trick phrase minus the trick.

     Government's main functions today are 1) to take from
some and give to others, and 2) to favor some at the expense
of others.  Government doesn't gain its wealth through
voluntary exchanges that benefit others more than they cost. 
Government wealth is gained from "Pay me, or I will hurt
you."  People pay because they believe paying will be less
painful than not paying.

     As we saw at the beginning of this series, individuals
don't sacrifice their satisfaction for others.  The politicians and
bureaucrats who claim to be public servants are not exceptions. 
First and foremost they serve themselves and their supporters. 
To everyone else they are parasites.  Only free people
voluntarily serve others.  They serve because they benefit. 
People who have freedom in the marketplace produce to
exchange with others.  Then the "public servants" make them
their servants by taking what they produce.

     "Public servants" are more accurately called public
parasites.  Unless we stop parasitic "public servants" they will
suck out our wealth and productivity until we perish.  The only
good news is that any surviving parasites will then be on their
own.

     Next time: The case for freedom.

aldmccallum@gmail.com
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Copyright 2014
Albert D. McCallum