Civil Society

by Henry_Gruijters on February 13, 2012

What is civil society? Society should be a place that is organized in such a way to allow people to benefit from each other’s ideas. The Welfare State impedes on this, as it constrains mutually beneficial exchange.

There are many that believe that the Welfare State is a sign of a civil society. In this civil society the state looks after the poor, the sick, the unfortunate and elderly. The question I pose to these many: “what made you (society) so uncivil that the state needs to provide these services?”

The purpose of society is to create a more pleasant way of living. Of course “pleasant” is subjective.

Subjectivity is good and bad. The unique information of every individual makes people dependent on each other. Yet workers and employers are dependent on eachothers unique knowlegde.

It is quite possible that workers who would want to work for certain entrepreneurs (and vice versa) never meet and fail to seize the mutually beneficial agreement creating unemployment.

Involuntary unemployment is not pleasant. Unemployment is therefore an opportunity for somebody in society. Allocating this under-utilized worker properly can create a profit, not only for the broker, employee and formerly unemployed worker, but to the insurance company too.

Currently the insurance company is the state. As the state pays out when a worker is unemployed, and all pay premiums in though general taxation. This insurance should be privatized. Why would the state know how to insure every individual? In the meantime it distorts incentives for the worker, employee and employment broker, who want to find a mutually benificial agreement?

A similar argument can be made for many elements of the welfare state. The creation of the welfare state has not made our country more civilized. It has created an environment in which, alternative solutions to the problems, which the welfare state is supposed to deal with, are excessively constraint. By stopping mutually benificial exchanges from arising the Welfare State is making society less civil.