He likes to manipulate clueless voters by claiming that his opponents want to unleash the selfishness of capitalism on America, while he and his kind-hearted advocates of statism shield us from that horror. As Dennis Prager argues in this sharp piece, the truth is the other way around. It is dependence upon the state that fosters selfishness, while the voluntary transactions of capitalism foster cooperation and sympathy. (Adam Smith made the same point.)
I’d add that dependence upon the state has another bad result: it encourages people to use coercion to get what they want in life. Instead of thinking, “How can I work to get what I desire and accomplish my goals?” people think, “How can I get the government to give me what I want?”
