My Mother Is A Fish

The Conservative Welfare State by Anthony Gregory

Anthony Gregory writes another choice piece, this time on how, following Rothbard's schema for understanding the political spectrum, conservatism's ends require conservative means, including welfare statism:

"Indeed, welfare statism does not at all clash with modern conservatism. Depending on the conservative’s particular agenda, it either fits in consonantly with the whole program, or it is an essential feature in it. The use of redistributive power to engineer society, to nurture dependence on the state, including its police and military segments, to bribe voters and tame down bitterness toward the ruling class while doing nothing to address the fundamental origins of poverty, is a conservative endeavor."

It is like Isabel Paterson wrote, regarding the consequences of having the power elite attempt to serve the best interests of the people--when the patronized becomes an object of control: "It is at this point that the humanitarian sets up the guillotine."

Charity can only be effected through the free interactions between independent persons.