Lorne Gunter, National Post · Aug. 12, 2011 | Last Updated: Aug. 12, 2011 3:03 AM ET
What do Obamacare, the London riots and a possible French debt crisis have in common? They are all proof that Western governments have grown beyond all reasonable, sensible limits. All these examples, and many more, demonstrate that we have grown utterly dependent on a ubiquitous state. Without one, we are at a loss about what to do.
We have lost the ability to fend for ourselves and think for ourselves. Like teenagers accustomed to electronic stimulation to occupy their minds every waking minute, we have no idea what to do when the power goes out. We are dumbfounded that the TV does not come on to amuse us, or the Xbox or iPod or smartphone.
In short, we no longer know how to be self-reliant.
I once worked for a wise man who said the only people worth keeping company with were people who first had learned to enjoy their own company. When it comes to our demands and expectations of government, too many of us have become mewling infants who no longer even attempt to provide for ourselves and loved ones. We demand instant gratification from the state and complain loudly (or even riot) when it is not provided - when we are forced to rely on our own company.
And I am not talking solely of lifelong welfare recipient or habitual EI claimants. I am talking about middleclass voters who screech at the mere suggestion that they pay a portion of their "free" health care, education or pensions. I'm referring to causepleaders who run to government commissions claiming infringement of their rights every time fate deals them a less-than-ideal hand. Even people who think there is a social good in bicycle paths or parks or waterfront boardwalks, and therefore a common obligation to fund them through tax dollars.
And I also mean executives who want the state to use its coercive power to limit competition or to tax money away from working people to fund massive business-stimulus programs. A CEO demanding a bailout to mitigate bad business decisions they've made is every bit as guilty of this as a welfare advocate who claims it is the state's duty to provide everyone with cable television, highspeed Internet, sports for their kids and hobby supplies so no one feels isolated from mainstream society.
Just look what was done in the U.S. last week in the name of a caring society. The Health and Human Services department decreed that all private insurers must provide free birth-control pills for all women, plus breast-feeding equipment and even sterilization if desired, without charging extra premiums or deductibles. Not even very wealthy women need pay for their contraceptives.
But there is no free lunch (or, in this case, free nooky). Someone must always pay. If it is not going to be the person using the service, then it will have to be other consumers or taxpayers. Because U.S. taxpayers are unlikely to support free birth control for all, the Obama administration decided to make everyone with health insurance pay for family-planning drugs and procedures through what will surely be higher premiums for all.
So to with the French debt crisis (and the Greek, Irish, Icelandic, Spanish and Italian debt crises - even the American one). In each case, the culprit is a state grown so large it has over-promised benefits, oversold citizens on what they have a "right" to but can no longer expect.
The rioters in Britain may claim they are smashing, burning, beating and grabbing because the government has not provided them jobs or opportunities, but most such claims are ludicrous. The generations of the last 40 years are the most-provided for in history. They have received more social benefits then anyone, ever.
But even if their claims of neglect were valid, that would be no justification for their lawless action.
The rioting is a culmination of decades of liberal social theorists and politicians telling us that there are no consequences to our bad behaviour - we are not responsible, so should not be punished - and also we have a right to expect our every desire to be fulfilled. If there are others who have more than we do, that's unfair. The "rich" should be made to pay. When the state ceases to provide us with all we have come to expect, most write their MPs or march in protest. But it should come as no surprise that some in society loot to get what they have been told is their birthright.
Unless and until we get over our belief that government can and should try to solve every social ill, and tax away productive money to pay for its experiments, the debt crises and riots and failed social programs will continue to pile up.
lgunter@shaw.ca
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