Anti-statism: What about the poor and disabled?
A correspondent asks:
Can you lead me to info on where Ron Paul stands on the disabled and the poor? No hurry. I’m at the embryonic end of my journey on learning about Anarchism and its branches.
I don’t support electing Ron Paul or anybody else. There’s a similarity of message, though, in that he advocates less state power while I advocate abolishing the state.
Generally, without the predatory state forcibly transferring wealth from average people to the elite, people would be better able to take care of each other through non-governmental approaches (which can’t come about right now only because we’re all being bled dry to fund the empire, banks and so forth). In anti-state “leftist” language those non-governmental approaches are called “mutual aid”. In “conservative” language, the same basic concept is called “civil society”.
The basic understanding (you might agree or disagree) is that a professionalized welfare state bureaucracy demanding upper middle class salaries and implementing inflexible top-down programs is actually not all that effective at helping people, despite the advantage of tax funding.
But that’s just a general outline of thinking on the matter. I can’t speak for the man. I would suggest Googling him and getting in touch with either his campaign or his Congressional office.
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A better response would be:
“Without the Welfare State, private charities would help the poor and disabled. That worked reasonably well in the USA before the growth of the Welfare State and rising taxes.
Income tax laws make it illegal for you to hire someone in exchange for a few dollars, some food, and a place to sleep. Minimum wage laws make it impossible for someone whose labor is worth less than the minimum wage to find a job.
Government regulations make it hard for people to form new businesses. Most things a poor person could do to earn some extra money are illegal, such as selling food out of your home (need a State-approved kitchen and permit) or working part-time as a taxi driver (need a license).”