Since we are living through one of the most historic increases in the interventionist-welfare state in the last hundred years, we need to remind ourselves of the dangers from this massive expansion in the political plunder machine.
The modern state may use the illusionary rhetoric of “social justice,” but the reality of political paternalism is a further loss of our individual liberty, a huge growth in political coercive power, a weakening of the independence and charactor of free men, and a massive expansion of government debt, taxes and likely inflation that threatens to stiffle the prosperity of Americans for decades to come.
I discuss some of the factors and political forces that are propelling us in this direction in a new article of mine on, “The Menace and Immorality of the Welfare State.”
It is taking us further down a new road to serfdom, in which a political and special interest elite plan and control our lives, while expecting us to be their serfs producing the wealth they want to steal.
Richard Ebeling
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The author makes worthwhile points, obviously, but I think there is a problematic emphasis in the piece fairly typical of some libertarians — that is, the emphasis on welfare when bemoaning the massive spending of the leviathan state. It is not that modern bread and circuses are ultimately good for either the poor unemployed or for the productive middle and working classes. I agree they are not. But the main characteristic of today’s state monopoly capitalist arrangement is redistribution from the modest to the powerful (as the writer hints at in referring to bailouts) and insane spending on wars and the hardware needed to wage war. Any serious critique of contemporary political economy has to stress these factors, rather than implying that the chief parasites in our society are single mothers getting foodstamps. Better than casting aspersions at the poorest “beneficiaries” of the welfare system, libertarians should be encouraging the welfare poor to, for example, pool their efforts to create self-help societies and cooperative enterprises, while pointing our sharp, accusatory fingers at bankers, other corporate welfare bums, and generals with an insatiable appetite for cash and blood.
Dear Mr. Young:
I tried to emphasize, by the types of examples that I gave, that the primary parasites who plunder their fellow citizens are not mothers on welfare.
I mentioned, for example, the large financial institutions who have successfully had themselves labeled “too big to fail” so they could get their hands in the taxpayers’ pockets to cover their losses.
And I made a point, also, to emphasize that the “moral hazard” created by the welfare state (in the broadest sense) undermines the ability of individuals to become self-responsible and not dependent upon the state. And, clearly, this includes the poor.
And I do agree that the United States government has, for decades, extended its ideological paternalism to encompass virtually the entire global through political and military interventionism. And these government expenditures, obviously, improve the financial position of various special interest groups in the country, as well.
Invariably many of the most powerful and influential special interest groups are those in the upper income brackets. That is why the Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, referred to the interventionist state of his time in the 1890s as a form of “bourgeois socialism.” That is, a socialism that redistributed wealth from the poor and lower middle class to the rich and the upper middle class.
Richard Ebeling
Richard,
I know it is difficult to cover everything in a paper but I would like to add a problem that has become so acute to be worthy of its own category and that is direct fraud.
Sixty Minutes had a program on the $60billion industry in Medicare fraud. It has become so prevalent that it has overtaken cocaine trafficking as the number one crime in South Florida. James Madison talked in Federalist 10 of keeping interest groups (Madison’s factions) from gaining control in the government. The recent moves by our federal government to concentrate power and especially money are ripe for fraud.
With Medicare fraud at $60Billion just how much can we expect from health care fraud?
Well, here I am with pitchfork and torch, ready to mob the castle. It’s time to get some immediate if crude justice!
But alas, I pause. I remember this Guatemalan kid who helped me to see the nuances of hegemony through stories of mass murder in El Quiche etc. This kid, incredibly, is now an information systems sergeant serving in Iraq. It is this sad contradiction, where a person is simultaneously victim and victimizer in the welfare/warfare state, that can be seen everywhere.
I know another guy really up on Mises working logistics for the Navy. This warrior for hegemony is also a member of the Free State Project! Go figure. I am sure other people here can think of ten examples in about two minutes of reflection.
I believe this intertwining becomes more prevalent the farther from the center of power you look. (I happen to be very far from power). It sure seems like a refined divide and conquer strategy that the Romans could only dream about.
This paradox is enough to make me put the pitchfork away for now. But I keep it nice and sharp…
Spelling error? “Government debt is a lean on citizens” should be lien?
Fallon, your comment about the contradiction of victim and victimizer hit me close to home. I have some very close friends who have 3 beautiful children, 2 of whom have learning disabilities and neurological conditions that have been very difficult (and expensive) to diagnose and treat. The husband has been the primary earner in the household for most of their kids’ lives, and he’s had to change jobs a few times, so their insurance has had to change as well. They’ve been victimized by the current health care system, spending the vast majority of their income on medical bills, and having to fight with the insurance companies over tests, medications, and doctor visits at every turn.
They know as well as we do that the current health care system is broken, but they’re convinced that too much freedom is the cause. They are staunch supporters of Obama and whatever health care reform he proposes. In fact, they would prefer if a single-payer system were established right from the start. In this way, they seek to victimize others, as they see it as the only way to improve the plight of those in similar positions to theirs.
Unfortunately, no amount of rational discussion can convince them that what they champion will lead to ruin, even to themselves. Anytime I suggest that, perhaps, government mandates are not the best way to solve problems, I am accused of merely twisting the facts with anti-government spin.
Unfortunately, I think the inability of most people to see government for the harmful institution it is will continue to move us down this road. Sad.
I think the biggest threat the USA faces is the ignorance, stupidity and utter complacency of the average voter.
No offense Richard Ebeling but the average America deserves all the pain, all the misery and all the evils that are falling on his head.
It is my biggest hope that this government will get bigger and will enslave all the average american into hell on earth.
You guys are too coward to use the 2nd Amendment and defend your freedoms and private property.
You guys are too stupid to vote for third parties or independents and you always get sucked up in the republicrat system.
Well good for you, now pay-up and shut-up or go die in the gulag komrad !
The average American is a hoplophobic emasculated drone with an I.Q. of 2 that obeys Oprah’s every diktats and voted Obama just because he’s black and good looking.
The Republican choice was a real joke, Sarah Palin and John McCain. Come on, you had Ron Paul, he would have made an excellent president. Although the demokratic kongress would have blocked every attempt from him to clean things up.
I hope Igor Panarin comes back to terminate you all !
Ron,
“2 of whom have learning disabilities and neurological conditions that have been very difficult (and expensive) to diagnose and treat.”
I believe that Sam Colt developped a very cheap and effective treatment for this 150 years ago.
But given that this cheap and effective treatment has been outlawed by the FDA, I will never have kids and will always remain single.
That way I know I won’t get stuck with human pieces of garbage.
Ron,
Thanks for the anecdote. I hate to see children suffer as the noose is tightened around us- making our decisions more and more between lesser evils.
Look how I used the phrase “serving in Iraq” so thoughtlessly. That is how far the propaganda has wormed its way into my head. I know damn well that I am the servile one- forced to support the people in uniform against my will as they destroy with impunity…
Might Is Right wrote:
“You guys are too coward to use the 2nd Amendment and defend your freedoms and private property.”
Oh, so how many government employees have you shot this year?
The really sad thing is that the lesson once learnt is never remembered long. Rarely for more than one generation. And there is a constant stream of propaganda issued by the State casting the truth into unrecognizable forms. Strength is ignorance. War is peace.
I don’t wish the coming troubles on anyone, me and mine least of all. I think that there will be plenty of misery and privation without anyone who understands what is happening (and being made sick by it) hoping it gets worse.
Might is Right
you said:”I will never have kids and will always remain single.”
Finally you have said something hopeful and supportive. The human race has been saved from a major evolutionary setback.
T. Ralph, LOL.
This cretin “Might is Right” has to be some kind of agent provocateur. I’d advise ceasing to engage with him.
Moral Authority Resides In The Free Market Economy.
Pure and simple – there is no moral authority for ego-driven intervention and the only source of an ego-less economy is a free market economy. That is not to say that a free market economy is absolutely perfect, because it is simply a mirror image of the relatively imperfect state of development of human civilzation.
However, the advancement of individuals and of civilization towards perfection is dependent upon the flow of information and that is only at its optimal in a free market economy.
.
Bruce
Interesting, never thought of it that way before.
Paternalistic? I don’t know any fathers that would shoot their kids for disobedience.
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