Rationalizing Forced Wealth Transfers

Why do so many people who claim to advocate liberty also call for forced wealth transfers? The answer is complex, and at root it concerns the morality of rational self-interest versus self-sacrifice. But part of the answer, as I discussed August 3 at Liberty On the Rocks, is that people tend to reify “the government” and “corporations,” treating them as willful entities rather than organizations of individual people. Moreover, many simply ignore the crucial distinction between voluntary and coerced giving.