Both men receive something they are not entitled to. If one takes by force he only adds to his list of infractions. If one resorts only to manipulating emotions is he not being dishonest? Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness.
No varying levels of depravity suggested there. Just depravity. If a man has a true need he can ask for help. The sincerety of his own heart determines whether he does wrong. If a man stands at an intersection with a sign that says "will work for food" but he won't work for it, he is a thief.
If government enriches itself on money gained ostensibly for their worthy cause, that is also thievery. Thomas Sowell tells it like it is, "If I have a neighbor who is rich on my right and a neighbor who is poor on my left and I go to the rich neighbor with my gun and say 'give me your money so I can give it to my poor neighbor' our government will show up at my door pretty soon after that with many more guns to take away my gun and throw me in jail." Yet our increasingly socialist government does exactly that every single day. They take my money and give it to others. They enrich themselves by creating a dependancy class that needs them and their self interest.
One might consider socialism to be both the thief and the beggar.
Stuart Gort
