Statists take a smug delight in the metaphor of an oppressive system rendering a wild and free animal to domestication when they never sought to relinquish the thrill of the hunt. Then continuing in their deplorable self-satisfaction, demand obedience, and gratitude for reducing them to a docile life of coerced dependence.
Perhaps the house cat is oblivious to all the benefits bestowed upon him by a benevolent overlord. Unappreciatively devouring meal after nourishing meal, he progresses into sloth and laziness. Declawed and denatured, he becomes fat, useless, and unable to retaliate against the hand that feeds him.
Why should he? He needs to learn to bow his head and purr contently for his masters. Only they can supply remedies and cures for the poisons they’ve fed him. For this, he should be profoundly grateful.
The collective statist hivemind had a massive circle-jerk when this poorly constructed analogy went viral on social media. It’s embarrassing that they felt so elated by such an undeserved “gotcha” moment, but that is what the extraordinary popular delusions of crowds will yield.
Delving into the metaphor, right from the beginning, we see a stunning ignorance of libertarian philosophy. If those eager to share the post were remotely educated on the subject, the cringe-worthy action would have been precluded at once.
Libertarians are not oblivious house cats who do not understand the nature of government, institutions of power, and schools and media apparatuses that work directly with the government to control information, suppress unique thoughts, and discourage individuality. We are fully aware, which is precisely what gives rise to our reticence to bend our knees.
Our unappreciative behavior and display of discontent roots in the fact that we are living in captivity. We are unfree serfs, mere tax slaves for the ruling class. Domesticating the individual into government dependence is not something that we regard as charitable, so we give no thanks for it.
A true voluntary society where all individuals are free does not need to be subservient to a ruling class.
Considering the absurd regulations, excessive taxation, and monumental waste of government that lead to businesses and homes being lost, it is superfluous to consider them arbiters of individual needs.
For many Americans, taxation is their largest expense. The average taxpayer labors for at least 4 months in order to cover the cost of government waste.
Libertarians do not want free services and handouts from the government, they want to pay for everything they have with what they've earned in a free market system without being taken advantage of by those in power. This hardly paints the scene of a content house cat waiting for its meals to be hand delivered without contributing anything but the epitome of indifference.
Conversely, statists freely admit that they want all of their needs to be met by Big Brother. They want to exchange their freedom for the security of their masters to provide them with luxuries they couldn't possibly have come up with on their own.
They will gladly perform as little as possible for the maximum return paid for by someone else's labor and time and ingenuity. They want no part of free market capitalism, which Ron Swanson referred to as a beautiful and brutal jungle. They have absolutely no concept of what it takes for a society to function. Rugged individualism and self-reliance send them into waves of panic like marooned children.
Before getting aroused and tempted to use this tortured metaphor, learn what libertarianism is all about. It will prevent you from further humiliation.
