October 16, 2003 -- Wayne H. Pilcher: The Welfare State

Self-sufficiency or individualism is not anti-social. There are many benefits from living in society, political, economic and personal. This includes help from other people in times of sickness or emergency. Benevolence is a characteristic of a people who understands values in life and feel concern for those in need.

The spirit of America is changing. “Socialism” is replacing individualism. This is not specifically the political Socialism found Europe, but more generally the idea that society is what is important, not the individual. Most political issues of today revolve around how much taxes are needed to fund which social programs. Every “community” is clamoring for their particular benefits.

Political and economic freedoms foster a vibrant and growing economy as each individual works to improve his or her ability to produce goods and services. In a free economy, without a welfare system, people buy insurance to protect themselves from catastrophic circumstances. They invest their money to provide for retirement. In a socialistic economy, the welfare system drains the incentive to work and drains the resources of the country.

The welfare state is based on helplessness and victim hood. Advocates of the welfare state see people who are poor or are victims of discrimination or cannot take care of themselves and believe government programs must be created to take care of these issues.

Poor is a relative term; some people are poorer than others. This is because people differ in their abilities and ambitions.

A person buying a product, including another person’s labor, wants the best value for his or her money. This fact goes against discriminatory prejudices.

It is not true that society is overwhelmed with helpless people. In a free society, family, friends, insurance and private charity can take care of the very small percentage of people who need help.

Most people today do not understand such principles of a free economy. They believe in socialism at least to some degree or in some form. They hope that those in government will have the knowledge and wisdom to have policies that will improve the lives for everyone. Such people have a feudalistic mind-set. They believe in “enlightened despotism,” that government officials will care about them and are smart enough to know what to do.

This is a fundamental error.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with pursuing a career in politics and wanting political influence and power. But there is a difference between wanting the power to influence the long-term prosperity and safety of the society and simply wanting power. The United States of America was founded precisely on this difference. The founding fathers crafted a governmental structure to limit the power over the people by creating a system of checks and balances against the possibility of abuse. This country was based on a system of laws and not on individual men. Those in government cared about their country – not their political power.

The American government is transforming from a system of checks and balances and laws into a system of bureaucracies, run by people who do have direct power over the lives of individual citizens. Such a system attracts people who want to have such power.

A basic psychological need is the need to feel in control over ones life and destiny. Some people feel the need for control as the need to control other people. For some people, that need manifests itself in politics – the need for power. Such people spend their entire lives in pursuit of as much power as they can get. They manipulate, scheme and lie as long as they can get away with it. In dictatorial countries, without a rule of law, their scheming includes torture and murder.

The first presidents were statesmen. Political differences for the founding fathers had mostly to do with governmental structural issues. But they all believed in the principles of separation and balance of powers and of the rule of law.

That slowly changed in the twentieth century. The last couple of decades have experienced the most rapid change as the fundamental political philosophy in the culture has changed towards socialism, which dominates the educational system. Now, many politicians at the federal and state level pander to their special interest constituencies and work towards their own power. The tragedy is that that is what most people want.

There are those people who know and understand the principles upon which America was built, but for those, it is a difficult but necessary battle.

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Wayne H. Pilcher is an engineer working in California.
infopath@netscape.net