This post is an observation that answers a question. Why do they call a country with a large welfare system a “nanny” state?
Let’s consider the term nanny.
–noun,plural-nies.a person, usually with special training, employed to care for children in a household.
The idea of a nanny sounds reasonable enough, but a nanny is not the same as the mother or father of a child. A nanny is merely employed to care for children. We can only hope a nanny will love the children he or she is employed to care for.
Because almost all parents love their children, almost all parents raise their children to care for themselves, to become self-disciplined and responsible adults. A nanny may or may not do such a thing. In a world where parents have no choice about which nanny they hire, the nanny they can hire will tend to do that which makes the nanny‘s life easiest. Such is the nature of human beings. Instead of raising children to be responsible adults, a monopolist nanny can just plop his or her charges in front of a boob tube — and get away with it.
When government becomes a nanny state, it has no competition, and there is little accountability. So as the caretaker of the welfare population, the nanny state does that which makes its life easiest. The nanny state does not try to get its clients off welfare. Instead, nanny state politicians just work to secure the votes of their welfare clients.
An expanding nanny state is one which seeks to eliminate all competitors. With paternalistic arrogance, the rulers of such a state see it as their job to make all decisions. After all, they know what is best for everyone else. Their public just does not know what is good for them.
Now let’s consider what is going on in this nanny state, the United States of America. Our great and glorious leaders want us to nationalize our health care system. These people think we need them to run our lives for us, whether we want them to or not.
Consider this quote on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s website.
But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy. (from here)
We have told Congress we do not want the Health Care Bill passed, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to pass the bill so that we can find out what is in it? That is nuts! Yet there the statement sits on her own website.
Read her entire speech. It is emotional drivel. It is not about us making our own choices. It is about us being nannied. If that is your idea of America, please move somewhere else.
