Liberals Hate the Poor

Thursday, September 1, 2011
Liberals Hate the Poor
by Jacob G. Hornberger

Liberals love to portray themselves as lovers of the poor. Their "proof," they say, is their ardent support of the welfare state. In fact, liberals oftentimes go on the attack against us libertarians for our call to dismantle welfare-state programs and the 60-year-old failed "war on poverty."

Actually, however, the love that liberals profess to have for the poor is a crock, and their love of the welfare state is actually a love of the power, influence, and money that comes with the welfare state.

Liberals know that the more people they get on welfare, the more people will be dependent on the government. Those dole recipients can then be threatened with, "Elect us liberals to power because conservative Republicans will cut off your dole, and you will die. Vote for us. Give us the political power so that we can continue your dole."

As everyone knows, with the welfare state comes trillions of dollars to hand out to grateful people. With that largess comes wealth, power, influence, adulation, and control.

So, how do we know that liberals don't give a whit for the poor? We have irrefutable proof: their horrible mistreatment of illegal immigrants. In fact, liberal icon Barack Obama now has the record for the president who has deported more illegal immigrants than any other president in U.S. history.

Think about it. Where could you find poorer people in the United States than illegal immigrants? That's why they come here -- because they're desperately poor and see the United States as a way to make a bit of money to send back to their families in their home countries. Their spouses, parents, and children are back at home, mired in even more desperate poverty, and depending on the money that the illegal immigrants are sending to them.

In fact, I would say that, generally speaking, illegal immigrants have to be the poorest economic strata in American society. And even if they're not at the very bottom, they're certainly close to it.

Yet, look at how liberals mistreat them. They raid businesses in which illegal immigrants are suspected of working ­ yes, working in an attempt to sustain their lives through labor. They bust them, cart them off to jail, put them on a plane, and forcibly take them back to their home countries, knowing full well that they are dooming them and their families to desperate poverty, possibly even starvation.

And they just don't care. They don't give one whit as to what happens to these poor people once they're forcibly repatriated to their home countries.

Let's face reality: liberals hate these people. They hate them for daring to come to America without official permission, for not standing in line and complying with the myriad rules and regulations of the regulated society. They hate them for being poor, uneducated, unable to speak English, and trying to take jobs that liberals feel rightfully belong to well-to-do, educated Americans.

The truth is that liberals hate the poor as much as conservatives do. Sure, liberals will exclaim against Alabama's cruel anti-immigrant law, but at the same time, liberals remain silent as their man, Barack Obama, uses the force of the federal government to raid businesses, bust workers, and forcibly deport them to lives of desperation and possibly even death.

Needless to say, libertarians are different from statists, both conservatives and liberals. We do care about the poor, including those who are unable to vote. We'd open the borders to the free flow of people, including the poorest people in the world. We love the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of the teeming shore, the homeless, the temptest-tost. We say: Let them come, let them try to survive, let them prosper, let them in.

We libertarians would reopen the Statue of Liberty, and we'd uncover Emma Lazarus's famous sonnet. We'd open the borders not just to the rich, educated, and well-to-do. We'd open the borders to everyone, including the poor.

Sure, it's true that we would terminate welfare, not just for the poor but also for the middle class and wealthy. That's because socialism is an immoral, destructive system that destroys the spirit of independence, self-reliance, can-do, and voluntary charity that exists within people. Unlike statists, who place their faith in force and coercion, we libertarians have an unwavering faith in freedom, free markets, voluntary charity, ourselves, and others.

We believe that it's better when people are sustaining their lives through labor rather than becoming dependent wards of the state. That's one reason we libertarians oppose those cruel immigration raids on businesses that both conservatives and liberals are so proud of.

Wouldn't it be nice if liberals were just honest with themselves and with others? Wouldn't it be nice if they were simply to say, "We hate the poor, which is why we love mistreating illegal immigrants. We just love welfare because it gives us money, power, influence, and control over the lives of other human beings."

http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2011-09-01.asp