The headline of this recent N&O op-ed said it all: “In budget fight, North Carolina’s well-being is at stake.”
North Carolina is a state with more than 10 million citizens, is the state government responsible for all of our “well being?”
The author of the op-ed, an analyst at the far-left NC Justice Center, seems to think so.
This budget fight is about health care and so many other missed opportunities to strengthen families and communities through things like quality child care for infants and toddlers, educational supports for children with disabilities, and connecting people to good jobs through a fully funded workforce development system, apprenticeships and affordable post-secondary education and job training.
That’s quite a list. All of these items should be supplied by or otherwise handled by the state, according to the author. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of government involvement in our lives – yet Justice Center progressives constantly tell us the solution to society’s problems is yet more government power.
She continues: “The legislative budget vetoed by the governor is unacceptable because it fails in numerous ways to advance the well-being of us all”
Such rhetoric should have a chilling effect on people who value freedom and human flourishing. The government has had an abysmal track record of providing for anybody’s “well-being.” For instance, witness how every government program designed to make something more “affordable” ends up making it far more expensive.
And more importantly, if we are all reliant on the ruling class for our well-being, instead of ourselves and our loved ones and neighbors through voluntary cooperation, are we really free?
