Monday 23 January 2012

The state undermines 'community cohesion' simply by getting involved.

Social Cohesion: The state isn't part of the solution, the state is the cause of the problem!
Paul Perrin

During a water outage that lasted a number of days, some old folk were complaining about the number of times they were having to answer the door to people offering to get them water from standpipes/tankers. They had every pot and pan full already, filled by earlier helpers.

When you hear about communities falling apart, old folk freezing, starving, dying and not being found for weeks - what was happening during the water outage?

Simple - many people like helping, they are happy to help - but when the state steps in and hijacks that responsibility (along with their dodgy 'third sector' hangers on) people are deprived of the opportunity. The state has taken responsibility for looking after people in most situations, so other people let them get on with it - the state destroys community spirit, community cohesion. However, when exceptional circumstances arise (such as the water outage) people seize the opportunity to 'help', 'feel useful' and 'make a contribution'.

People would help more, be more community minded if the state got out of the way - stopped usurping the role and stopped taking our money to pay for it - with less done by the state, and so less cost, taxes would be lower and people would need to work fewer hours and have more time to be community minded - just as many already want to be.

Other examples of people seizing the opportunity to help, beating the state to the job, were the clean up after the riots, and during snowy periods when council gritting fails - many people get out and make paths safe.

The state isn't part of the solution, the state is the cause of the problem!

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