You conveniently left out significant components of Hayek's quote --
"There are difficult questions about the precise standard which should thus be assured; there is particularly the important question whether those who thus rely on the community should indefinitely enjoy all the same liberties as the rest."
In the footnote, he goes on --
"There are also serious problems of international relations which arise if mere citizenship of a country confers the right to a standard of living higher than elsewhere and which ought not to be dismissed too lightly."
And back to the main text --
"An incautious handling of these questions might well cause serious and perhaps even dangerous political problems . . ."
He goes on in that chapter to discuss the state providing "for those common hazards of life against which . . . few individuals can make adequate provision" -- referring of course, to state-provided health insurance. But he brackets his remarks carefully --
"where, in short, we deal with genuinely insurable risks" [that would exclude birth control, preventive care, and the REQUIREMENT that people purchase health insurance]. He was addressing, specifically, using government programs to help the impoverished who could not help themselves.
But if you think Hayek was in any way endorsing the welfare state or "equality of income", you are dead wrong.
"Certainty of a given income can, however, not be given to all if any freedom in the choice of one's occupation is to be allowed. And, if it is provided for some, it becomes a privilege at the expense of others whose security is thereby necessarily diminished."
He states very clearly -- ". . . although such a general guaranty . . . is often regarded as the ideal . . . it is not a thing which is seriously attempted." |
