After the Welfare State
In Monday’s Wall Street Journal’s ($) “Main Street” column, entitled “After the Welfare State,” Bill McGurn suggests the welfare states “(f)rom Albany to Athens” have “run aground -- morally, socially, and fiscally,” and adds, "Less clear is what’s going to replace it.” McGurn goes on to introduce the column this way:
“Today, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan gives a hint at the possibilities. Over the next few weeks, the Beltway will consume itself defending or defenestrating his numbers and projections. Yet Mr. Ryan's budget is less about dollars and cents than the assumption behind them: that the best way to help Americans is to increase their access to the market rather than try to shield them from it.
“The implications of that assumption are fleshed out in a prescient essay in the spring issue of National Affairs called "Beyond the Welfare State." Written by a former White House colleague of mine, Yuval Levin, it argues that the moment is ripe for conservatives to address the primary failure of the welfare state: a vision of man that is too narrow, tethered to a trust in government that is too high.”
According to McGurn, both liberals and conservatives have strengths that need to be considered to get us beyond the welfare state. Liberals, he says, overlook their ability to set goals for society. For example, a dignified retirement or a decent education for every child. Conservatives, on the other hand, offer “a better "how"—a road map that lets us balance our care for fellow citizens without wrecking the economy, ruining families, or giving birth to more soulless bureaucracies.” McGurn says. “Think of it this way. Even Milton Friedman's proposal for school vouchers, which would still see the state providing an education for all children, is essentially a "how" argument. He concludes the piece this way:
“Liberals tend to oppose even these improvements. Sadly, they've become wed to the welfare state's most debilitating premise—that the sole provider for some of the most important goods and services must be the most inefficient institution in American life: the government. Mr. Ryan's budget does not have an answer for all the problems caused by the collapse of the welfare state at the federal, state and city levels. But he sure has fired up a long-overdue debate.”
If you don’t have a subscription to the Journal, check out Mr. McGurn's "Main Street" op-ed on your next visit to the library.