Who pays for everything we have a "right" to?

Reading the mainstream media can be almost as dangerous as paying attention to social media. Very often discerning truth from fiction is a fraught exercise. And it seems there are plenty in the media ranks who believe that if a story is repeated enough in different forms it will gain currency.

A theme that makes too regular appearance, and attributed to a variety of sources, from academics to activists, is the burgeoning number of “rights” (including “human rights”) that various members of the populace supposedly have entitlement to. From housing to free funerals to three meals a day provided, there doesn’t seem to be much that is not a “right”. Try telling that to a Somalian refugee.

What we see less often, if at all, are realistic plans as to as to who will provide the resources for these rights. If it is indeed a human right that social housing should be provided for life (and the lifetime of children and their children) to those who cannot provide for themselves, and “jobseeker” benefits for 100 thousand people whether or not they are actually seeking a job, then surely there should also be some civic education as to how a caring and civil society really works.

It has been long commonly acknowledged that part of living in civil and caring society is that we all have a duty to provide care for those who cannot care for themselves. That our society is not one where we look after number one and leave those who cannot look after themselves to be figuratively trampled in the dust of the those who can.

That attitude of caring for others through the taxpayer contributing to the public purse is being increasingly damaged.

When the custodians of the public purse are seen to be failing in their fiduciary duty, it must eventually impact on taxpayer willingness to contribute to that purse. Whilst the natural inclination for most is that they would prefer to pay less in tax, following closely behind that is the expectation that those taxes are used wisely. We know that some people have a less than responsible attitude when it comes to custody of other people’s money. But there is an expectation that in the public arena, with the scrutiny that should be apparent, taxpayers money is well spent.

The example of $840,000 of public money spent on “an exploration of Maori string figures” is the tip of the figurative iceberg when it comes to waste of public money. From the extravagances of millions of dollars spent on “consultants”, to the hiring of relatives with little in the way of specific skills, we are seeing the results of having people running the country who have never run a business, and don’t know how the real world works. Outside of how the world of spin PR that is.

Over the last few years the prevailing culture of expectation has been enhanced by the freebies handed out in so many directions. Instead of rewarding those who strive to build and create, the rewards have gone to those who can shout the loudest and who fit within the ideological mindset of the children in charge.

Whilst the culture of expectation is not new, it makes sense that if you feed that culture, it will grow. And with a profligate mindset and no thought of where future taxes will come from, we are seeing a government that sees no harm in robbing the hard working to shower “rights” on a chosen few.

The harm is not in increasing taxes, but in the squandering of resources through wasteful spending.

It is time we re-instated a little of the  simple mantra that hard work and dedication are the road to success – not sitting on your backside and putting your hand out.