day no. 17,173: socialism is legalized theft

"Socialism is legalized theft." — Gary DeMar

Wrong is wrong, even if it is the State who does. Theft is theft, even if it is the State who steals it.

"When a portion of wealth passes out of the hands of him who has acquired it, without his consent, and without compensation, to him who has not created it, whether by force or by artifice, I say that property is violated, that plunder is perpetrated. I say that this is exactly what the law ought to repress always and everywhere. If the law itself performs the action it ought to repress, I say that plunder is still perpetrated, and even, in a social point of view, under aggravated circumstances." — Frederic Bastiat, The Law

Piracy is piracy whether it is done with a boat or with the Royal Navy.

"The Emperor angrily demanded of him, 'How dare you molest the seas?' To which the pirate replied, 'How dare you molest the whole world? Because I do it with a small boat, I am called a pirate and a thief. You, with a great navy, molest the world and are called an emperor.'" — Augustine, City of God (telling the story of a pirate captured by Alexander the Great)

Politics then ought to minimize the size and scope of the State, not inflate it. Constitutions ought to keep their power to wield the sword in check, not provoke it.

"The goal of politics is to diminish its power, not increase its power. And so that would mean diminishing the power of the national government, return it to its limited governmental function in the Constitution of the United States.” — Gary DeMar

Governments are limited because God isn't. The State must go this far and no further because God goes wherever He likes. Magistrates can only wield the sword according to the Word of the Lord because it is only by the Word of God they are allowed to lawfully wield it in the first place.