The End of Extortion: Reclaiming Our Principles and Restoring Self-Reliance

No More Free Rides: Time to Kick the Looters Off the Gravy Train

Author: George Burdette Jr. Affiliation: Independent Researcher, Science and Technology Studies Contact Information: [email protected] | 520-627-6531

America has long been a land of opportunity, built upon the foundations of individual effort, enterprise, and self-reliance. Yet, over time, a grave injustice has taken root in our society. We have allowed the looters—those who take without producing—to attach themselves to us like parasites. In exchange for their silence and for the illusion of peace, we have permitted them to extort us, to claim entitlement to what they have not earned, and to threaten us with violence or upheaval should we dare to refuse.

The Reality of the Injustice

This is not merely a financial burden—it is a moral and philosophical corruption that undermines the very essence of what makes America strong. It is a quiet surrender, an abdication of our responsibility to uphold the values that make success possible. By acquiescing to their demands, we have permitted them to believe that they are the rightful heirs to our labor, that our efforts exist solely to subsidize their existence, and that the price for our continued productivity is a never-ending stream of handouts.

What began as a request—“Let me borrow”—became a demand—“Let me have”—and has now transformed into outright extortion: “Give it, or else.” We have failed to protect what is ours, choosing appeasement over principle, choosing the path of least resistance rather than standing firm against coercion. We have allowed a mob of looters to dictate the terms of our continued prosperity, convincing us that we must pay their ransom to secure our safety.

The True Cost of Appeasement

The sanction we have granted them is more despicable than their extortion itself. It is one thing for thieves to attempt to take from us through force; it is quite another for us to allow them to succeed by our own surrender. We have given them the power to dictate our obligations, to erode our freedoms, and to consume the fruits of our labor without contributing to the effort.

This is not merely about economics. It is about principle. It is about the fundamental truth that production and effort create value, and that no one is entitled to what they have not earned. By allowing the looters to dictate the terms, we have allowed them to define a system in which effort is irrelevant, where need is the only currency, and where the price of noncompliance is violence and disorder.

Need alone does not justify the taking of another’s labor. In fact, need without effort is nothing more than an excuse for dependency. We have allowed the looters to believe that because they have failed, they are entitled to the success of others, and by permitting this lie to persist, we have betrayed our own values.

The Time for Change

The time has come to reverse this injustice. We must no longer tolerate this extortion, nor should we continue to appease those who seek to take without giving. Instead, we must demand that they join us as producers, as contributors to society rather than parasites upon it.

We have given in for too long. We have rationalized our appeasement as compassion, as an effort to maintain order, but true compassion is not indulgence—it is accountability. True justice is not compliance—it is fairness. Fairness demands that those who benefit from society contribute to it.

Americans have always prided themselves on their refusal to negotiate with terrorists. We must now apply that same principle to the looters in our midst. Their alternative to production must be clear: a short, hungry, and lonely existence. The world does not owe them comfort, nor does it owe them sustenance. If they wish to survive, they must work, just as we have.

Reclaiming Our Future

This is not about cruelty; it is about necessity. It is about restoring the natural balance of effort and reward. It is about ensuring that success remains the result of hard work, not the result of coercion. If we truly wish to help those who have fallen into dependence, we must push them toward independence, not enable their continued reliance on others.

Voltaire once said, “We must cultivate our garden.” The time has come for us to do exactly that. The time has come to cut the looters loose, to force them to stand on their own, and to demand that they contribute or perish by their own inaction.

This is not merely an economic imperative—it is a moral one.

We must require responsibility. We must reject extortion. We must reaffirm the principles that made this nation great. It is time to act, to push back against the tide of entitlement, and to reclaim the dignity of earned success.

A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood. Let us sweat now so that we may never have to bleed later.