Welfare is the forcible transfer of wealth by the government from those who produced the wealth to other individuals who “need” that wealth.
Welfare is the forcible transfer of wealth (usually by taxes) by the government from those who produced the wealth to another individual (or group of individuals).
Where private charity is voluntary, the “paternalism” of government welfare is involuntary.
The alleged justification for welfare is altruism: sacrifice of one’s interests for others
The justification for this expropriation of funds is that those who are receiving the wealth (handouts) “need” it, and those who do not voluntarily give their money have “greed” so their money must be forcibly taken from them.
At the root of the claim that the creators of wealth owe the non-creators is the ethical code of altruism — self-sacrifice of one’s own life for others (‘altru’ meaning other). In Marxist jargon, this means that wealth is plundered “from each according to his ability” and distributed “to each according to his needs.” The producer has the ability, i.e., “greed”—the welfare recipient has a need—the inalienable rights of the producer be damned.
Welfare renders the producers slaves and the “humanitarian” middle-men as their masters. Whether the thief is wearing a ski mask or is a dressed in a pinstripe suit of a congressman, does not change the nature of their actions in principle: both are looters as both are initiators of force. With one exception, the man wearing the ski mask is more honest: he is not a big enough hypocrite to tell the citizen he is robbing him of his hard-earned wealth “for his good,” or “for the good of the people.”
What of those who cannot help themselves under capitalism?
Under capitalism, all government coercion and theft is prohibited and replaced with voluntary methods, i.e., private charity.
The few individuals in a capitalist society who are incapable of taking care of themselves — such as the mentally disabled, crippled, and orphans (which are a small and tiny minority in any free country) — are provided for through voluntary means, i.e., private charity.
Recommend Reading:
Rooseveltcare: How Social Security is Sabotaging the Land of Self-Reliance by Don Watkins
This elegantly written book, explains how the entitlement-welfare state is destroying our hope for the future. The definitive case for gradually abolishing social security and the welfare state.