Ethical Question for Public Policy

[BuryRaven]

People who cannot actively take care of themselves, such as those with disabilities, absolutely should be assisted. I'd prefer a private charity with minimum government oversight, but will go with government if no other options are available.

Oh yes, I should have explained I was referring to modern welfare. Social safety nets especially for the disabled and elderly can quite easily be scaled into a state by state assistance set up or even a federal one.

It's things like Social Security that bother me, SSI can barely combat inflation one would be better investing their social payments into precious metals (joking).

[BustOfPallas]

We are at a point in human history where there is no forces of natural selection, like starvation or predation and relative excess and abundance that allows for a large portion of the population to do nothing, contribute nothing, not work, won't work, can't work etc.. The reasons for this are a wide spectrum from lack of intelligence to lack of opportunity, skill, laziness etc..

Here's the problem. Their vote counts as much as the votes of productive, competent people and people and society generally works the best when people can directly benefit from the fruit of their own labor.

What happens when you get more of the former and less of the latter.

You start seeing call for hierarchies, maybe not the most "just" hierarchies but certainly ones with an element of competence, to be replaced with hierarchies of "fairness"....

Do you want your well being determined by those wielding power because of fairness or competence?

Makes me worry for my kids. Make me worry for everyone.

[darb72]

Oh yes, I should have explained I was referring to modern welfare. Social safety nets especially for the disabled and elderly can quite easily be scaled into a state by state assistance set up or even a federal one.

It's things like Social Security that bother me, SSI can barely combat inflation one would be better investing their social payments into precious metals (joking).

You joke but aren't to far from the truth. Government is wasteful because nobody holds them to account.

[BuryRaven]

You joke but aren't to far from the truth. Government is wasteful because nobody holds them to account.

And they have no competition. Imagine if the fed permitted investment groups to allocate your SSI investments. The hyper majority would pick largely safe investments like in the real world and it would combat inflation and then some... and surprise the payoff is greater for all parties involved.

This isnt rocket science you just have to be an intellectual or in government to be blind to such possibilities.

[Dade]

The problem is letting government decide who is and isn't competent enough to make their own decisions. That's danergous terrority.