Fråga:

Hej,

jag har ett problem. Jag kan inte riktigt acceptera att gå till doktorn, åka kommunalt, ta emot studiebidrag osv. och på så sätt upprätthålla ett system som tillåter stöld av andra människors pengar.

Hur skulle en objektivist resonera i detta fallet? Är det rationellt att utnyttja det staten erbjuder eller inte? Jag har ju själv blivit tvingad att bidra till systemet.

mvh
Christoffer

Svar:

Hej Christoffer,

Det är en bra fråga. Ayn Rand besvarade denna fråga ganska utförligt i en essä som heter ”The Question of Scholarships”:

Many students of Objectivism are troubled by a certain kind of moral dilemma confronting them in today’s society. We are frequently asked the questions: ”Is it morally proper to accept scholarships, privare or public?” and: ”Is it morally proper for an advocate of capitalism to accept a government research grant or a government job?”

I shall hasten to answer: ”Yes”…

The right to accept [public scholarships] rests on the right of the victims to the property (or some part of it) which was taken from them by force.

The recipient of a public scholarship is morally justified only so long as he regards it as restitution and opposes all forms of welfare statism. Those who advocate public scholarships, have no right to them; those who oppose them, have.

…

[T]he advocates and supporters of the welfare state are morally guilty of robbing their opponents… The victims do not have to add self-inflicted martyrdom to the injury done to them by others; they do not have to let the looters profit doubly, by letting them distribute the money exclusively to the parasites who clamored for it. Whenever the welfare-state laws offer some small restitution, the victims should take it… (Ayn Rand, The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought, (New York: Meridian, 1989), pp 40-42.)

Principen är förstås densamma för bidrag eller a-kassa eller liknande. Hoppas detta besvarade din fråga.

Mvh,
Carl Svanberg