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comment by kleinbl00
kleinbl00  ·  2894 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Articulate, intelligent Presidential candidates with a proven track record?

That's an effect, not a cause, though. Principled libertarianism molds that organizations aren't "considered corrupt and unreliable", they're inherently corrupt by design. I don't know if you've ever watched the Ayn Rand institute bend over backwards explaining her Social Security checks but it's instructive: it goes something like "if the system is corrupt then the only non-corrupt thing to do is take advantage of it to the fullest":

    Precisely because Rand views welfare programs like Social Security as legalized plunder, she thinks the only condition under which it is moral to collect Social Security is if one “regards it as restitution and opposes all forms of welfare statism” (emphasis hers). The seeming contradiction that only the opponent of Social Security has the moral right to collect it dissolves, she argues, once you recognize the crucial difference between the voluntary and the coerced.

    Social Security is not voluntary. Your participation is forced through payroll taxes, with no choice to opt out even if you think the program harmful to your interests. If you consider such forced “participation” unjust, as Rand does, the harm inflicted on you would only be compounded if your announcement of the program’s injustice precludes you from collecting Social Security.

    This being said, your moral integrity does require that you view the funds only as (partial) restitution for all that has been taken from you by such welfare schemes and that you continue, sincerely, to oppose the welfare state.

    In contrast, the advocate of Social Security on Rand’s view is not the victim but the supporter of legalized plunder, whether he realizes it or not. This fact morally disqualifies him from accepting the spoils “redistributed” by the welfare state.

So: if you hate social security, you should collect it. If you advocate social security, you're part of the problem and should starve.

I had a point, but then I went down that rabbit hole so now I'm just gonna click "reply" and go about my day.