Socialism and Sheep

Here's an old fable I was reminded of yesterday:

A Wanderer approaches a Sheep.
Wanderer: "Dear Sheep, every Spring the Shepherd takes away your young and slaughters them. Yet you go on giving him your milk and wool. Why?"
Sheep: "It is true that the Shepherd milks me everyday, sheers my wool and slaughters my offspring, but I go on serving him because he provides the grass for me to graze on."

Just as the Shepherd "provides" the grass for the Sheep, so the State provides its subjects with jobs, "free" education and healthcare, pensions, protection, and countless other services that we are told could not be provided by the free market.