I have commented earlier on Sonia Gandhi's decision to "universalize" food security - the much trumpeted "Right to Food." Today, thanks to Chandra once again, my attention has been drawn to a staunch supporter of this brainless idea: P Sainath, writing in The Hindu.
Sainath begins by denying anything called a "scarcity of resources." He writes that the line, "there is no money," is "most dishonest."
In reality, the most dishonest idea of all is that The State has unlimited resources. It is this dishonest idea that lies behind huge government deficits, currency printing, and inflation - which is a tax on the poor. It is this idea that enables politicians to buy up support anywhere and everywhere - including Parliament. We must all realize that resources are limited, and that The State must spend only what it receives in taxes, and nothing more. We must also realize that the less taxes there are, the better, for then the size of The State is small, and there are less "tax parasites." Sainath, on the other hand, wishes to make India a haven for such parasites - because he wants The State to "feed the hungry."
Reminds me of an Obama joke on LewRockwell.com that I just read:
Q: Have you heard about McDonald’s’ new Obama Value Meal?
A: Order anything you like and the guy behind you has to pay for it.
Sainath's compassion with other people's money extends far beyond feeding the hungry. He wants a Total Welfare State. He says:
I was a member of the BPL Expert Group. In a note annexed to that report, I argued that in four sectors — food, healthcare, education and decent work — access had to be universal.
My question: How do you become a member of a government expert group unless you are seen as a friend of The State?
So Sainath wants a Right to Food, a Right to Education, a Right to Work and a Right to Healthcare - all provided by a paternalistic State. He says nothing about the Right to Property. He is therefore a close ally of the socialist State and its bureaucRATS - who would "administer" all these soft-headed schemes with freshly minted currency notes: inflationary finance.
Actually, there is no "right" unless someone has a matching "obligation." If no one has an obligation to give you food, healthcare, work and education, all these rights are meaningless. No good has ever come of the huge compendium of "universal human rights." Indeed, it is governments worldwide, especially Third World governments, that are the biggest violators of human rights. Human beings need protection from their governments. Sainath is pointing the other way. His friend, The State, is therefore quite pleased with him, and is equally happy to tell the poor: "Welcome to my parlour," in exactly the same way as said by the spider to the fly.
Let us not be soft-headed. Let our heads at least be hard. Let us see this The State for what it is: A Predatory State. Let us see that it has failed in everything it has taken up - with our money, and with inflationary finance: from making steel to education. Let us see that our The State cannot run a single city or town efficiently. Let us see that the people in the cities are unhappy, people in the towns are unhappy, people in the jungles are up in armed revolt, and Manipur and Kashmir are aflame. Let us fix real problems. Let us fix this The State. Let us not give it more tasks to perform - with our money, and with inflationary finance. Sainath, who denies the scarcity of resources, believes in inflationary finance. His views are fatal to society.
My "vision" of State and Society is very different. I would like to see The State cut down to size. I would like to see most taxes revoked - so that people can keep their money, save and invest it, and buy their own food, education, and healthcare. I would like to see an end to all State "licensing" so that there is Liberty - and everyone can "work" on his own, without bureaucRATS getting in his way. I would further like The Law to be applied to whatever remains of The State - so that The State is NOT "above the law," as is the situation today. I do NOT view this The State with rose-tinted glasses, as Sainath does.
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