PrintJuly 12, 2007
Earth to Michael Moore: Government is Force
The important thing to know about left-wing agitator Michael Moore is that he just doesn't get it.
Recently, John Stossel interviewed Michael Moore on the ABC program 20/20, and found that Moore has curious ideas on government and force.
"'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."
It takes one to know one, and the best-selling author of Stupid White Men would know.
Or maybe he wouldn't. In his stage persona as a slacker schlub Michael Moore unwittingly tells the story of how the progressive movement of Peace and Justice has betrayed slacker schlubs like the one he plays on TV.
Michael Moore in Roger and Me faced the awful truth about union jobs and turned away. How could General Motors CEO Roger Smith close auto plants and put good working people out of work? FDR told folk like Moore's parents and grandfather that they and theirs had lifetime jobs at General Motors with good union wages and benefits and had nothing to fear but fear itself. How could General Motors turn around and close plants and lay off union workers and teeter on the edge of bankruptcy?
Michael Moore in Bowling for Columbine faced the awful truth about government education and turned away. How could middle-class kids shoot up their wonderful public school? It must be the level of violence in the United States, or aggressive US foreign policy -- or maybe sport hunters, or defense contractors, or Michigan Militia members, or maybe the stultifying conformism in Littleton, Colorado, or maybe a "climate of fear." It couldn't be that public education had failed.
Now Michael Moore in SiCKO faces the awful truth about government-controlled health care and turns away. After half a century of government regulation and spending in health care he is shocked to encounter horror stories of for-profit insurance companies denying coverage to sick Americans. How could this be? In his mind, it's simple:
Government doesn't regulate enough. It should take over the whole system like single payer Britain and Canada. It could not be that in the land of single-payer the government health system is worse than evil HMOs, and denies not merely coverage but actual health care with waiting lists.
No wonder that Michael Moore really doesn't know the difference between freedom and compulsion. Whether as slacker schlub or as gifted left-wing agitator, he cannot admit that his way of building a better world is powered by the clunking fist of force.
At least Michael Moore is good for something. He and his lefty friends have done a fine job over the years pointing out the hypocrisies of the United States government. Noam Chomsky has pointed out that the global superpower is indeed a wielder of power, and it uses propaganda and manipulation to "manufacture consent." Howard Zinn has written A People's History of the United States to remind us that the United States did not experience a virgin birth and committed outrages upon everyone from native Americans to African slaves and union workers. In Bowling for Columbine Michael Moore shows us that US foreign policy has resorted to force numerous times since World War II.
What our lefty friends cannot admit is how their progressive program of Peace and Justice is from first to last a program of force and compulsion.
That is why Michael Moore maintains that when "the people elect the government" the stain of force is washed away from government action.
"The people" do not do force. Only imperialists and fascists are into force.
Sorry, Michael. Government is force, even genuine democratic government. Everything government does involves compulsion.
When Democrats set up a government pension plan and force everyone to contribute, that is force, even though it achieves a noble aim of assisting people in their old age.
When Democrats set up a government health care program for seniors and force the workers to support it, that is force, even though it achieves a noble aim of relieving seniors of most health care costs in their old age.
When Democrats stand in the schooolhouse door at the bidding of government school workers and block all reform of a failing government school system, that is force.
And the question every Democrat must be forced to answer is: Why? Why is your vision for America always about force?
Christopher Chantrill is a frequent contributor to American Thinker. See his roadtothemiddleclass.com and usgovernmentspending.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.
