What is the welfare state?

The welfare state is the sum of those government interventions in the economy intended to promote the common good through the pursuit of social justice, economic efficiency, and the universal provision of second generation rights. In his State of the Union address on January 14, 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed a second Bill of Rights, outlining the second-generation rights the state should be constitutionally obligated to provide,

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... The right to a useful and remunerative job... the right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation... the right of every family to a decent home; the right to adequate medical care... the right to adequate protection against the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment; the right to a good education.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ratified in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly, entitles all humans to second-generation rights as well. In articles 22 through 26, the UN proclaims a dignified standard of living a basic right. The declaration entitles everyone to leisure, sick pay, holidays, social insurance, free compulsory education, health care, equal pay for equal work, participation in labor unions, and reaping the benefits of technological and intellectual advancements. Like first-generation rights, such as the right to own property or freedom of speech, positive rights constitute entitlements and thus claims made on public resources.[i] All rights require government agency and public resources in order to become palpable realities (Holmes & Sunstein, 1999, pp. 35-48). The welfare state is nothing more than the instrument society uses in an attempt to provide the second generation rights and positive freedom necessary for the advancement of liberty and the common good. The four most prominent features of this instrument are interventions in health care and education, social insurance and redistribution (Barr, 2004).

[i] Holmes and Sunstein (1999) actually suggest that as all rights are claims on public resources and, therefore, require governmental action, are "positive rights."

References:

• Barr, N. (2004). Economics of the welfare state. New York: Oxford University Press (USA). 
• Holmes, S. & Sunstein, C. R. (1999). The cost of rights: Why liberty depends on taxes. New York: W. W. Norton.

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written by Glennsopinions, April 23, 2008

Actually you can save a lot of time by reading the follow1ing document as these guarantees are contained here, circa 1936, revised in 1977. But of course, I am sure you already knew that.

http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/1936toc.html
http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/1977toc.html

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written by CenterLeftLiberal, April 26, 2008

Very funny . But unless you beleive the UK and the U.S. are socialist countries, you should not equate the state attempting to provide second generation rights with Soviet style communism.

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written by CenterLeftLiberal, April 26, 2008

PS. quiz for your; how is your post fallacious? Name the fallacy...
Remember in order to abstain from using fallacies you need to deal with arguments objectively - you need actually judge an argument based on its own merits, not on who does or does not support it - though as I mentioned just about all developed countries recognize the above gurantees.
That's why I don't read many of your replies, why should I spent my time reading a bunch of fallacies.

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