Imagine you’re walking down the street with a friend, and a homeless man approaches the two of you and asks for money. You give him some, but your friend doesn’t. You think he should, so you try your hardest to convince him to change his mind. He refuses. Would you using or threatening violence against your friend to force him to give to charity be morally justified?

Let’s change the situation a little. Now, instead of acting on your own, you, your friend and the other people on the street with you take a vote. If the majority of the people that voted were in favor of threatening your friend with violence, would you then be justified in doing so?

Let’s change the situation again. Now, instead of a few people on the street, it’s an entire country. If most of the people living in that country agree, is it ok for these people to forcibly take money from the minority that disagree? Is it ok to appoint armed thugs who will kidnap anyone who refuses to give up their money and lock them in a little metal cage, and shoot them if they refuse to be kidnapped?

Most people wouldn’t use violence in the first two situations, but are perfectly fine with the third situation—a welfare state. But there’s no moral difference between the three examples. The only difference is that the third is less personal—someone else uses violence against the peaceful, non-violent people who only want to keep the money they earned, rather than you having to do it yourself. The violence of the welfare state is usually hidden, but it’s still there.

But so what? What’s my point? The point is that if you want a moral society, you must oppose the welfare state. Either the violence of every day criminals is wrong and the violence of the forced wealth redistribution is wrong, or neither is wrong. If it’s acceptable for the state to rob people at gunpoint to give money to others, then it’s acceptable for anyone else to do the same.

If you want to help the poor, that’s great. But the only moral way to do so is peacefully. Give your own money to charity or convince others to voluntarily donate their money. Some people may not be convinced, but it’s their money. You don’t have the right to point a gun at me because you disagree with the way I spend my money.

Michael Annes is a freshman majoring in mathematics.