All For One

One for all, all for one. This old wisdom knows many variations and translations, like "united we stand, divided we fall" and "unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno". Modern society however is structured in a way as to make us forget the wisdom in these words.

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I've recently watched a debate between Sam Seder and libertarian Patrick Bet-David. During this debate I was once again struck by libertarians' attitude towards taxation and social programs like medicare, medicaid and the likes; they hate these programs. In their view it's all about personal responsibility. They'll almost never go so far as to literally say that people who don't succeed in life have only themselves to blame, that they don't care if those people become homeless or starve to death, but it's exactly the meaning behind their ideology and words. Sure, they advocate for charity; as if that could in any way replace the function a government fulfills with a robust social safety net.

But even if it could, it would still be problematic. You see, with charity it's up to the individual to decide who's worthy of receiving that charity and under which preconditions; that's why we see so many libraries, schools and hospitals with names given by millionaires and billionaires. That's why many big corporations send aid after disasters, in the form of food, tents, tools and so on, but only if their brand names feature prominently on the packages for news-cameras to pick up. Charity is never just charity but always serves an underlying interest of the individual person or entity behind the charity. It's never selfless but quite the opposite. And that's just on the surface; I haven't even mentioned the tax deductions, the foundations which serve as a personal piggy bank or the sheer power obtained in essential sectors of society, like in education or medical research; just look at how Bill Gates's foundation wields power over schools in America or the distribution of vaccines around the world.

The view that taxation is theft is antithetical to the old wisdom of 'one for all, all for one'. It's short-sighted. We can have, and we do have, many criticisms on how and where the money is spent, but there's no way any sensible person who wants to live in a functional society can oppose the principle behind taxation, which is based on an old wisdom. United we stand, divided we fall. Taxation is just the way this wisdom is built into the structure of society. It's something that applies to us all and can be of benefit to us all. It makes the difference between waking up every day in a world that's hostile, filled with people who just are in it for themselves, or waking up in an environment where everyone has a sense that we're all in this together. It's the glue that binds a people together, a substitute for the close personal relationships we held when we were bound in tribes. And in those tribes the strongest hunters brought home the most meat for all to share, just like in our society the strongest shoulders should carry the most of our collective burdens.

When social programs are mentioned, the right wing libertarians will immediately correct you and call them 'entitlement programs'. They do not think that other, less fortunate or less capable people, are 'entitled' to some of the money they worked so hard for. That's theft in their opinion after all. It's not. Unfortunately for them we've structured society in a way that not paying taxes is theft, theft from the society that enabled them to earn profits in the first place. A society that contains many, very different people who decided to stick with each other through thick and thin. Just like the novel that made the phrase 'one for all, all for one' so famous, The Three Musketeers, in which Athos, Porthos, Aramis and later d'Artagnan always stayed loyal to each other, no matter what. Loyalty, duty, honor; these words mean little anymore unless you're in the army...

We're becoming more and more divided, and there's no amount of flag-waving or reciting a pledge of allegiance or national anthem that can cover this up. We're individuals, sure, but we're individuals in a society of many individuals with whom we must be able to coexist. For that to function, we must believe that, to a certain extent, we have each other's backs, that we reach out a helping hand if one of us is to fall. We need to be able to say 'that's mine', but equally we must point to some spaces and say 'that's ours'. The right wing ideology of hyper-individualism, with just God to watch out for all, is the death of society.

Anyhow, linked below is the debate that inspired this little rant; please watch it, as it's very informative about the difference between two opposing world-views.

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