The Legacy

I'm aware that Labour is having its great love in at the moment, a session in which countless stupid phrases like "conference", "colleagues" and "comrades" are likely  to pour forth.  I can't bring myself to watch any of it, but I catch flashes on the news and see denial and lies come forward as they try to reinforce the Pol Potesque year zero narrative about their time in government.  Don't get me wrong, were I sufficiently depressed to watch the other two mainstream parties in their big talking shops, I feel I would be exactly the same.

Because I'm not watching it though I didn't see young Rory Weal's wading in to the coalition on their treatment of young people.  I have however picked up on a line being covered by many in the media such as the Daily Express from his tale of woe in which he points out that:

“Two-and-a-half years ago the home I had lived in since birth was repossessed. I owe my entire well-being and that of my family to the welfare state.

“That very same welfare state is being ruthlessly ripped apart by a vicious, Right-wing Tory-led Government.”

For me the young lad has encapsulated the entire problem.  I'm all for the idea of something to catch the fallen so that they can lift themselves back off their knees and begin to get themselves back into a situation where they can regain their self respect through the fruits of their labour.

But what Weal seemed to be talking about, is far from that.  Jackart has put the problems of the welfare state perfectly over at his place.

For me, the modern welfare state is akin to a national veal calf programme for humans.  The endless benefits, like Jackart points out are akin to a trap in which the recipients are unable to develop the strength to stand on their own.  They become like the mice in the fantastic little book Who Moved My Cheese as they simply return to the same spot time after time, demanding someone start laying cheese out for them again.  The modern welfare state, produces an incapable population bereft of any ability to turn their situation around with government i.e. our cash.

"So what?" you might say.  Well as I saw the report on Rory Weal's speech and his particular phrase, I thought back to the video I posted yesterday involving the trader and his take on the future.

If that trader's words turn out to be even half true, what will we have?  What will those that share the same perspective of Rory Weal do?  What will those who expect the money truck to drive them through life do, when the money is gone?  Will they continue to look to someone else to simply give them what they need?  What will they do when they find there is no money truck anymore and that most people around them no longer care about their problem because they have their own to solve?

I'm not blaming people such as Weal, in fact I think they've been had.  They've been conned into living a life that cannot handle any collapse in the system such as the one we are facing.  When politicians talk about society letting people down, what it really means is politicians have let people down. 

Will there be violence?  Unfortunately, that will be a very real possibility for a variety of reasons.  I presume that in the main, Weal's family wanted something better for themselves and were suckered down the path they took.  They may try to struggle on.  There are others though, who will always fail to grasp the problem they face and will continue to believe someone, somewhere owes them and will simply take.

Will that be the legacy of the welfare state?  A system designed to help the weak that breeds another group that will turn into a nightmare for us all?