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I'm not. Theft is immoral. And something given has no value.
You will not reduce poverty by gifting the poor the rich's wealth. You will just make everyone poor and centralize power in unsustainable ways. We've been through this before countless times. It doesn't work.
Those two are normative statements.
And this statement is positive, and it doesn't follow from those before it.
That's what almost every state in the world does (except Haiti, maybe). Including Singapore, Nordic countries, United States... Or are you a hardcore libertarian who is against taxation?
Well of course, I'm making the two arguments against it: the ethical deontological one, and the practical utilitarian one.
It's evil and it won't work.
And as we can plainly see, none of them have eliminated poverty, and the harder they try this method the more disastrous the consequences get. QED.
In this I am a mere liberal. I think having people pay for the commons is necessary. I think having people pay to give to others is tyranny. The security of one's property being a natural right, etc.
The supreme courts of nominally liberal countries have thankfully agreed with me so far if the schemes of thievery are blatant enough. Though it doesn't stop people from trying to ruin themselves and their fellow countrymen evidently.
None of the countries with police and a penal system eliminated crime => We should abolish police. QED
Where does paying for commons end and unjust redistribution starts? Public schools? Public infrastructure in some Podunk and rural areas where just a handful of people would benefit from it at the expense of urban folk?
Also oftentimes "libertarians" (not necessarily you) forget their opposition to redistributive "theft" as long as their favorite topic is concerned. Ah, so great for Orban to implement policies that might increase fertility, like cash payments to young parents! We should subsidize local businesses to compete with China! Veterans should have access to cheap healthcare and education!
And some might say that not giving when you are able to is evil
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2022:9&version=KJV
I am not an advocate for redistributive policies, but I don't find "you will not reduce poverty by gifting the poor the rich's wealth" argument persuasive.
Crime tends to diminish with increased policing. Poverty doesn't diminish with increased redistribution.
There are many opinions amongst liberals on this, as you know. As a Hobbesian I tend to take a much larger view that may include a sense of the people's welfare so I'd go as far as social security schemes being legitimate even as I'm skeptical of their long term viability in practice.
The clear bright line is confiscation. You can't take from someone for the purpose to give to someone else. Redistribution qua redistribution is tyranny.
In my country legal precedent sets this to at least include 70%+ tax brackets on anybody. Of course my ideal state only really collects tariffs and not silly things like income taxes, and I personally view property and income taxes to be confiscatory. Good sensible centrist that I am, historically speaking.
Of course it is. But confiscating property also is. Charity at the point of the sword is no charity at all.
"And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just."
Why? We've tried it. God knows we've tried it. Over millions of bodies we've tried it. Over centuries we've tried it. Only to find ruin every time.
I think history shows the poor are better served with good government than with the delusions of socialism. I should rather ask you why you think it would work this time.
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