Government welfare is not compassionate. It cannot be compassionate by its very nature. And I say that as someone who is much more progressive on economic issues than I am on social issues. I support a lot of forms of government welfare. I think that they are ultimately the right types of things for government to enact. I just don’t think that they can be considered compassionate, nor can you call it compassionate to support them or vote for people who do.
The reason that it is not compassionate is simple: no party involved, neither government nor the taxpayer, willingly makes a sacrifice for the sake of others.
Taxes Are Taken By Force, Not Voluntary Selflessness
I am not in the “taxation is theft” crowd – nor are a lot of people who use that’s slogan, if you actually press them on it – because I do believe that government has a right to exist as government, and to tax the governed in order accomplish its duties. I believe government has that right just as I believe (as do almost all of us) that government has the right to imprison people who commit certain evil acts without it being kidnapping.
But that doesn’t change the fact that taxes are mandatory and collected under the threat of force.
Taxpayers don’t pay taxes out of the goodness of their hearts. They pay taxes because they have to. The law requires it, and if you don’t pay your taxes, you can be imprisoned and otherwise punished severely by force of government. Even those who do not consider this to be a grave injustice and consider it the cost of living in a civilized society don’t go around voluntarily paying extra to the government to show how supportive they are. Taxes, by definition, are not voluntary.
Compassion, however, is voluntary. When you give money to charity or spend time helping someone in need, you are choosing to do so because you want to help them. You aren’t doing it for the self-serving purpose of avoiding the harm that comes from violating the law. Compassion is a willful expression of love for others.
Government Cannot Be Compassionate
Government cannot be compassionate because government is not a person who can willfully give of their rightfully-owned time and resources.
Government exists to serve the governed. Taxes that it collects are to be used for the sake of the governed. It is, in a sense, a pass-though entity, taking wealth and labor from those who contribute to it in various ways and using it to fulfill its various duties to the people and state (e.g. public safety and defense, defending individual rights, etc.).
It is not like government is a human person who earned that money, could use it for itself, but chooses not to out of kindness. And insofar as government officials spend taxpayer money on serving the taxpayer and the people as a whole, rather than using for their own benefit (aside from reasonable compensation for their labor), we would normally just call that “fulfilling your basic duty” and “not committing theft and embezzlement.”
Why Do I Support Any Government Welfare, Then?
Now, I noted above that I am not against government welfare. That isn’t to say that I am a socialist – I firmly believe that before you can even think about government providing a strong welfare regime, you need to first generate the massive wealth to do it. That requires capitalism and people still having the incentive to make more money for themselves. But I do support at least a reasonably generous welfare regime, to the extent that a nation can afford it. So how do I square that with my point above that government welfare is not compassionate?
For me at least, my reasons for supporting government welfare (at least to a point) are much more practical. I don’t have a worldview or overall moral conception of government that requires it to stay in very limited roles. I do think there are definite limits – and the United States constitution spells this out – but I believe that government can rightly serve the governed in ways beyond just its most core functions like national defense and public safety.
I believe that having a sufficient safety net is good for society as a whole. Dire poverty leads to crime and homelessness and urban decay. This harms all taxpayers. And most taxpayers are not wealthy enough to never have to be concerned about needing a safety net. Knowing that things like unemployment benefits, food stamps, help with medical care, etc. are there if something goes terribly wrong provides peace of mind even to those who pay the bill but never use these services. These things also can help keep the overall economy afloat, which helps everyone at every level.
These points aren’t meant to form a developed case for government welfare. Rather, I make these points to demonstrate that support for government welfare is not dependent on the flawed idea of taxpayer funded entitlements being an act of kindness. While there are principles that government must observe for their own sake (like freedom of speech and religion), government policies should ultimately be based on results and not intentions. I think that, when done properly, a good government welfare program provides the best results for the governed.
Conclusion
This point has numerous applications. Many who support government welfare to the extent I do, and beyond, will appeal to compassion to not only justify their view but often paint those who disagree in a terrible light. Within Christians circles this is increasingly the case, as the loving and compassionate nature of Jesus Christ is appealed to in order to not only demand ever-increasingly government welfare (even up to the point of overt socialism), but silence any dissent. It is assumed that those with more socially conservative views, even those that are more conservative than my own, cannot have any legitimate reason to believe what they believe since any such belief is selfish and lacking in compassion.
But telling the government to fund welfare, while I believe it is a good idea, is not an act of compassion. Compassion cannot rightly be used as the trump card to silence those who advocate for smaller government.
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