Our "Taker" Society

Have you noticed the sudden explosion in 'squatter' horror stories in the news? Tales of home owners who find that someone broke into their property, and though a combination of lies and ridiculously skewed "protections" can't be removed? I see new ones every week. Florida just passed an anti-squatter law, Georgia has one in the pipeline, and even some blue states are doing… something.

The laws and structures that allow this behavior tell the tale.

The squatter problem is just one of many examples of a decades-long trend of pulling back from individual property rights in favor of a "taker" society, both culturally and legally.

Squatting, whether it be breaking into an unoccupied home or refusing to pay rent in a leased apartment, is defended by many via a positive right to shelter. Excuses like "you can't throw someone out on the street," or "you're not using the house, why shouldn't someone else," are spoken by people who claim greater compassion and a higher moral position than you, the fact that this costs them nothing notwithstanding.

Similarly, I see people arguing that it's wrong to defend yourself against a burglar or other home invader, because ‘they're just trying to feed their families.’ Some sheriff somewhere recently sparked outrage by suggesting that homeowners leave their car keys some place a burglar can easily find them, so that he'll take the car and leave rather than ransack the house.

I wonder how many of these moral grandstanders leave their own doors unlocked. I wonder how many would change their tunes if their homes were invaded.

A couple other obvious forms of "taking from others:"

• The "defund the police" and bail reform movements have produced a spike in shoplifting and retail theft that has prompted store closures in otherwise-affluent big cities.

• Turnstile jumpers and other fare beaters cost NY City $700M in revenue in 2022 alone.

Less obvious, but also part of the stew, are things government does:

• Civil asset forfeiture, where people have their money or goods taken without ever being charged with a crime, is not only rampant, the feds have incentivized local police departments via "profit sharing."

• Eminent domain, originally intended as a tool to prevent lone holdouts from stifling roads and other public works, has been corrupted for the benefit of big businesses or greedy local politicians.

• Welfare went from being a stigma to a "let me see how much I can extract" entitlement game.

• And, the granddaddy of them all, our progressive tax code.

People look at Europe and observe the "free" health care and other social structures, and decry America's supposed dearth of those. Bernie Sanders thinks America should be more like Scandinavia.

Europeans, however, know something. They all pay for that free stuff. Between their flatter income tax codes and their VATs, Europeans of all income levels send a sizable chunk of their money to the government in exchange for all that "free" stuff.

America's tax code is significantly more progressive than those of the envied European nations. No matter this, of course, because all we ever hear from the usual suspects is that the rich don't pay their fair share.

Inconvenient fact: the rich pay more than their fair share, at least by a measure of “fair” based on “you pay for what you get.” On average, a member of the 1% pays a higher net tax rate (26%) than any other income bracket. The 1% pay 42% of the total federal income tax collected, and the top 6% pay two-thirds of all federal income tax in America.

Not enough, apparently. Bernie Sanders has made a career claiming that America could provide Scandinavian-style social welfare simply by taxing the rich some more. His bait-and-switch ignores the fact that working-class Scandinavians pay far more taxes than he’d ever suggest imposing on American working classes. He and his would never go for the actual Nordic model of government.

Sadly, those innumerate views have gone from mockable fringe nuttiness to an article of faith on the Left.

And have trickled down into the brainpans of millions of Americans, who now act as if it's not only acceptable, but proper that they take what others earned. The squeamishness of leeching off others has gone the way of the dodo- clubbed into extinction.

This not only undermines the fundamental values of the nation, it creates moral hazard among those who aren't Americans. While many migrants crossing our southern border are looking to work their way to better lives, many others are attracted by the giveaway promises from our current government. Perverse incentives that are little different from the "no risk in stealing" message sent by blue cities and progressive district attorneys in their non-prosecution of shoplifters and farebeaters.

Tolerance for low-level crime is not only a quality-of-life matter, sapping wealth and degrading cities, it reinforces a "taker" mentality. It lets people rationalize their thieving ways. Deep down, they know stealing is wrong, but if it's blessed, that sense of wrongness gets pushed ever deeper, and envy becomes entitlement.

As property rights erode, so do all our other rights. Your individuality stops mattering, and you become nothing more than a nameless and faceless drone to be drawn from by those who take without remorse.