The Million Moocher March

Last week saw the so-called Million Student March, where students around the country — probably not a million of them — organized to demand free college, the cancellation of all student debt, and a $15 minimum wage for all campus workers.

Why do students deserve some of the biggest handouts, bailouts, and subsidies in U.S. history? I’m glad you asked. Because the organizer of the march, Keely Mullen, recently appeared on Neil Cavuto to state her case.

And it turns out, she doesn’t even seem to know what her case is. Something about the 1 percent and equity and fairness and hoarding…you get the impression that she didn’t really think she needed to make a case, that it was self-evidently good for students to have their needs automatically supplied by greedy rich people.

Cavuto rightfully presses her on the question of: who’s going to pay for all these goodies, which will cost far more than a trillion dollars? That’s an important question, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. Because the implication is that if we could make it “affordable,” we should do it.

But we shouldn’t. Because here’s the real question: Why should I be forced to pay to support the spread of ideas that I regard as wrong, dangerous, and, in too many cases, evil? Why should I be forced to set aside some of my hopes and aspirations in order to pay for other people’s education — including people like Keely Mullen, who are using their time at college to spread those evil ideas, and to smear people I admire and value?

That is the injustice of “free education.” It’s not simply expensive — it’s morally bankrupt.