I was in the tea room this week talking to one of my fellow academics and referred to my personal blog where my odd combination of reformed theology and libertarian politics. He replied that he was socialists. Good guy, Means well, but like the Salvation Army, he’s making a mistake.
We have two clear choices here: one is to continue the path we have been on more or less continuously for the past three decades, concentrating wealth and influence, and driving the marginalised further into the shadows, with yet more restrictive welfare entitlements and a yet more punitive criminal justice system. The other is to act more inclusively and to work consciously and deliberately at ways of ensuring that the most marginalised New Zealanders, and in particular, many poor families and unemployed young people, feel as though they are valued and valuable members of our society.’— from the Foreword, by Major Campbell Roberts, director of the Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit.
This brings me to one of the conversations that I had with another colleague. This one is working on strengths models… and we were talking about self esteem “you are good, you are great” as not very useful, but pride at achievements is useful. The idea of the strengths model is that you DO something. Probably difficult. That you hate. Then when you have done it, there is a sense of achievement. Sitting on you bottom, doing nothing, leaves you feeling marginalised, and patronised by the very left who say that they are your saviour.
The cure for marginalisation is work. Work comes if there is minimal regulation (there is a balance between letting people set up businesses and hire people and safe working & living conditions. If you make hiring a person risky, firms will avoid hiring. Locally, at least. For example, Macpac and Kathmandu now make all their (locally designed) bags and clothes in china. The only group that don’t that I know of are Cactus Climbing, who make excellent gear.
There is one place where the Salvos have got it correct: we pay the CEOs of the various government departments at commercial rates. This is wrong. They cannot be sacked at will, and their department is not allowed to fail. We pay commercial CEOs highly … for their time in power is short. It will end at the second bad quarterly report. And commercial enterprises grow wealth. The government is more like an essential parasite.
For it is not how we feel. We are allowed to feel powerless and despair.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, for people trample on me; all day long foes oppress me; 2 my enemies trample on me all day long, for many fight against me. O Most High,3 when I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I am not afraid; what can flesh do to me?
Now the poor will always be here. There are some people who simply don’t have the drive or the skills to service a large mortgage, and use their wages to pay rent. There will be those who lose the ability to work from illness age and accident. But we need to care for these people, not set up evil processes in the hope of doing some good.
11For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.13Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters, that the world hates you. 14We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. 16We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 17How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? 18Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.
Again, it is not feelings that are the measure of if the poor and oppressed are helped. It is actions. it is food, shelter. It is supported work. It is appropriate medical care. And, in these times of governments going bankrupt (or being, in effect, bankrupt) we cannot expect to fund this by printing worthless money. I expect the social welfare state will fail — because the unfunded entitlements promised are so great even draconian taxation laws will not raise sufficient to pay the needy.
This has to be done locally. It needs to be practical. It will not be about feelings. It will be about food. Do not trust the political princes of this age, for they sitting on a pile of credit cards, swapping money from one to another, and hoping it does not fall during this parliament, this government.