Socialism spreads

Socialism has finally hit Hong Kong, previously the most free enterprise-oriented economy in the entire world. After decades of resisting, the Hong Kong government recently decided to force a centrally-regulated mandatory retirement system upon its people. In other words, Hong Kong just a adopted its own version of America’s New Deal: Social Security for the working man.

The new plan, called the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), forces additional costs upon Hong Kong’s struggling economy. It places an undue burden upon Hong Kong’s beleaguered private sector. This is a relatively new phenomena for Hong Kong, which has long enjoyed a glorious capitalistic, laissez faire system–the envy of the free world.

Now, that leave-it-alone system has been seriously compromised. Although the MPF system only requires five percent contributions from both the employer and the employee, who can doubt that the contribution levels will not be raised later on (as is the custom of governments everywhere)?

Not that five percent is an acceptable level. Even a forced one percent “contribution” would be objectionable. Governments have no right to dictate how its citizens allocate their spending, saving and investing. Forced retirement savings is outside the legitimate functions of government.

Government, as philosopher John Locke made manifestly clear, exists only to protect individual rights, not to violate them. Government is formed to escape “the inconveniences of the State of Nature”–to protect private property rights, not to redistribute wealth or evolve as a nanny state.

Governments begin with the forced retirement system. Next they force mandatory auto insurance coverage upon us. Next they will force mandatory health insurance, by forcing us to either pay medical insurance premiums or accept socialized medicine outright. Next they will force mandatory disability insurance and then what? Freedom is destroyed.

Freedom is destroyed “for our own good”–in the name of the public welfare, at the expense of individual liberty: but in reality for the Wall Street “vampires” who benefit from forced retirement savings; for the insurance companies who benefit from forced auto insurance premiums; for the government bureaucrats and politicians who thrive on the public patronage racket.

And thus socialism spreads while freedom falters.