24.1 Welfare In The Western Democratic Order
From The Reality Of Welfare part of 'The Australian Achievement' by Cooray (1996)

One of the important features of the modern state is the welfare phenomenon. What place should welfare occupy in the scheme of things in the western democratic order? Welfare for the genuinely needy and underprivileged is desirable but welfare in modern times is not so restricted.

One of the greatest myths in modern politics is that the concern for the poor and the underprivileged is shared only by those who put forward reformist proposals involving government activity and largesse. The opponents of this philosophy are perhaps partly responsible for this totally misleading impression because of their failure to communicate their philosophy in its total import.

There are several important facets of the problem of poverty which have been deliberately obscured by marxist and socialist rhetoric. Amongst them are the following:

1. Relief of poverty has a political history which predates government regulationism by many centuries
2. Liberal capitalism is essentially a means of gradually reducing poverty and deprivation by the creation of wealth. Socialist propaganda has convinced many that the creation of wealth is the antithesis of the relief of the poor. Nothing is further from the truth.
3. The object of modern welfare policies is not the alleviation of poverty but the equalisation of wealth. Although the two ideas marginally overlap, they represent totally distinct goals. Each of these points is analysed separately.