Social Security w ithout the State

1. Social Securitywithout the State Dr. Tom G. Palmer Odessa, Ukraine InLiberty.ru Summer School 2009

2. One “Lens” through which History can Be Seen: The History of Freedom as the History of Association that is Voluntary and Independent of Coercion • History as a dialectical interaction between • “Fellowship” • (Genossenschaft) • and • “Lordship” • (Herrschaft) Otto von Gierke (1841-1921)

3. Freedom Is not Merely a Condition of Solitary Development It is a social condition …not of conflict,… …but of voluntary cooperation …among humans….

4. Free Association Flourishes: Growth of Medieval “Communes” • “Stadtluftmachtfrei, nachAblaufe von Jahr und Tag.” • “City air makes you free, after the lapse of a year and a day.”

5. Growth of Civil Society • Latin – Civitas – gives us “civil,” as in a mode of behavior • German – Burg – gives us Pittsburgh, Hillsborough, “bourgeois” (thanks to the French), and the “House of Burgesses”

6. The Communes Were Typically Governed by Associations of Merchants and Craftsmen, called “Guilds” The “City of London” is Governed from “Guild Hall”

7. Guilds Often Represented Particular Trades

8. Business Enterprises Were Formed by Association, Often Over Dinner Company Means “Con” “Pan” = “With Bread”

9. Such Groups Produced Wealth, Provided Collective Goods and “Social Benefits,” and Took Part in the Governance of the City

10. How was welfare and social security provided before the welfare state? Friendly Societies Mutual Aid Commercial Insurance Charity

11. Prior to the welfare state in Europe and America Savings Clubs Friendly Societies

12. Free Association Flourished in the 18th and 19th Centuries Throughout Europe and the Americas To Provide Mutual Aid, Many Associations of Workmen Were Established, Including Sickness and Burial Benefits

13. They Often Used Rituals, Symbols, and Uniforms to Create Bonds Among Members Such Groups Were Deliberately Targeted by the Advocates of the Welfare State for Destruction

14. But Liberalism Began to Decline and Was Replaced by the Collectivist Ideologies of Nationalism, Imperialism, Socialism, Fascism, All Forms of Domination/Lordship • Nationalism in the sense of national greed has supplanted Liberalism. It is an old foe under a new name….The old fallacy of divine right has once more asserted its ruinous power, and before it is again repudiated there must be international struggles on a terrific scale. • “The Eclipse of Liberalism,” E.L.Godkin, Editor, The Nation, August 9, 1900

15. “I have lived in France long enough to know that the faithfulness of most of the French to their government….is largely connected with the fact that most of the French receive a state pension.” – Otto von Bismarck The Welfare State Was Rooted in Power, and Changed European Politics and the Nature of the State…

16. Bismarck Created “Rights” that Are Dependent on the State • “Whoever has a pension for his old age is far more content and far easier to handle than one who has no such prospect.” • -- Otto von Bismarck

17. Some Numbers from the UK Registered Friendly Society Membership 1877 2.75 milion 1887 3.6 million 1897 4.8 million 1910 6.6 million (plus 2.5 million in unregistered societies and 2.5 million in cooperatives, for a total of 11.1 million members 1911 National Health Act imposed compulsory insurance on almost 12 million workers; friendly society membership started to fall, as people had to pay twice for the same service

18. The 1911 National Health Act Changed That… 1911 National Health Act imposed compulsory insurance on almost 12 million workers; friendly society membership started to fall, as people had to pay twice for the same service

19. Russia, Italy, and Germany Follow and Accelerate the Trend toward Extreme Statism “Germany will be at its greatest when its poorest citizens are also its most loyal.” --Adolf Hitler

20. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all -- regardless of station, or race or creed. --Franklin D. Roosevelt, 11.Jan.1944 American Politicians Propose a “Second Bill of Rights”

21. “Among these are: The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries, or shops or farms or mines of the nation; The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation; The right of (every) farmers to raise and sell their (his) products at a return which will give them (him) and their (his) families (family) a decent living; The right of every business man, large and small , to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad; The right of every family to a decent home; The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health; The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, and sickness, and accident and unemployment; And finally, the right to a good education.” A Plethora of new “Social Rights”

22. If Rights Are Good, Aren’t More Rights Better? If I have an interest in something don’t I have a right to it? The State Can Dispense Rights to the People The Welfare State (Social Democratic) Approach to Rights

23. The results of state pensions and welfare statism: Dependence, instead of Independence Incoherent Systems that mix “Insurance” and “Redistribution” resulting in massive Unfundd Liabilities Displacement of Civil Society Organizations Social Fragmentation

24. But Civil Society Can Solve Social Problems – with More Humanity, More Dignity, and More Justice than the State