Posted by hank, Fri Jul 11 05:24:00 UTC 2008
Ayn Rand brings up an interesting point about Robin Hood in Atlas Shrugged. She argues that Robin Hood is remembered for robbing from the rich and giving to the poor based on need, and that this is not the correct way to think about the tale. Robin Hood indeed did rob from the rich and gave to the poor, but not because the poor simply needed money, but because the money had been stolen from them by the rulers. This is a subtle, but extremely good point. Robin Hood was simply giving people back their property, which they earned, that was stolen using overbearing taxation. In fact, theoretically, he should have been robbing from the ruling class and giving to all taxpayers the same amount they paid in taxes, assuming a progressive or income-proportional tax system. This would include people from the middle class, such as merchants, as well as the poor.
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