Is Government Force Michael Moore Says No - Road to the Middle Class

WE ALL KNOW, or at least we’d better know by now, that Michael Moore thinks that government health care, as practiced in Canada, Britain, and Cuba is hunky-dory.

(I know. Have you asked a Brit about her wonderful NHS lately?)

Libertarian John Stossel got to ask him about this on ABC’s 20/20 TV show. How come he could be so relaxed about government health care, Stossel asked?

"But government is force," I said to him. He was incredulous.

Michael Moore: Why do you see it as force?

Me: Because government takes money with force from people and gives it to others.

Moore: No, it doesn’t, actually. The government is of, by, and for the people. The people elect the government, and the people determine whether or not they’ll allow the government to collect taxes from them.

So now you know why liberals wax enthusiastic about the wonderful things that government does for us.

They have talked themselves out of believing that government is the agent of force and compulsion. Don’t look at the tax collector, they say; look at the good results: a wonderful program to increase minority home ownership.

But it’s force, says the conservative.

No it’s not; it’s compassion, says the liberal.

Says Stossel:

Michael Moore may not have thought about it, but there are only two ways to get people to do things: force or persuasion. Government is all about force.

There’s a lesson here for conservatives. We don’t spend enough time asking our liberal friends: But why do we have to do this by force?

Oh no we’re not, they’ll say.

OK. So the American people voted Bush into office to fight the war on terror and he spends a hundred billion dollars a year on the war in Iraq. That’s not force. It can’t be. Liberals say so.

No doubt that has nothing to do with reports that people are refusing to pay their taxes because of the war.

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Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.