photo #9329054

There is an old saying that socialism is a great idea, right up until you run out of other people's money. But there is a newer version of that saying, and this cartoon nails it.Share YOUR wealth. Not mine.It is always the same story with the champions of redistribution. The rules are for the billionaires, the trillionaires, the faceless rich guy who supposedly is not paying his fair share. The rules are never for the man writing the rules.Bernie Sanders spent decades railing against millionaires. Then he became one. Three houses, best-selling books, a very comfortable life. And almost overnight, the villain in his speeches quietly changed from "millionaires and billionaires" to just "billionaires."Funny how that works.This is not really about Bernie. It is about a mindset. The people loudest about spreading the wealth around always seem to mean your wealth, your paycheck, your small business, your retirement account. Their book royalties, their speaking fees, their lakefront property? That is different. That was earned.Here is the thing. They are right about one part. It was earned. Capitalism rewarded them for writing books people wanted to buy and giving speeches people wanted to hear. The free market made them comfortable. They just refuse to extend that same logic to everyone else.The Founders understood that the surest protection for the working man was not a government official deciding who deserves what. It was the right to keep what you earn and build something of your own. Property rights are not a loophole. They are the point.So the next time someone lectures you about fair shares, ask a simple question. Are they writing that check themselves, voluntarily, today? Or are they pointing at somebody else's wallet while their own sits in a vault?The finger wag tells you everything.