Legitimized Evil

The powers that be
That force us to live like we do
Bring me to my knees
When I see what they've done to you
--Pretenders

Professor Williams addresses the legitimation phenomenon inherent to socialism. Enacting socialism requires forcibly using some people for the benefit of others. Because many people do not like to think of themselves as evil-doers, they concoct language and social processes that legitimize their use of aggression.

His example demonstrates.

Suppose that elderly people in a neighborhood possess neither the physical nor monetary means to keep up their residences. A democratic (i.e., majority rule) vote produces a law that requires people in the neighborhood to perform households tasks for the elderly. Not doing so results in fines and imprisonment.

Outsiders looking in are likely to condemn such a law as a form of slavery. Some are being forced to labor for others.

Suppose that, instead of forcing people to work in the elderly's homes, the law requires people to surrender a certain amount of money that would be given to the elderly so that they could pay people to maintain their residences. Again, the penalty for not doing so includes fines and imprisonment.

Prof Williams suggests that many would be ok with this law, despite the fact there is little difference between the two laws except for the mechanism of servitude. In both cases, some are being forced to labor for the benefit of others.

Using government agents to perform the monetary transfer in the second case conceals the aggression, thereby making this law palatable to many. That the law resulted from democratic process also makes some people feel better.

Of course, majority vote can not make moral acts that are immoral. A 99-1 vote does not give the ninety nine license to force the one dissenter into slavery.

Socialism relies on pretense to legitimize processes of evil.