Altruism and Welfare State

Why am I so skeptical of welfare state?

Because it has failed for six decades and I think it is reasonable to expect that this concept has rather weak legs, but let me present a case based on my limited understanding (hence I can be wide off the mark).

The notion behind welfare state is that of altruism. One can argue that altruism is not necessarily such a bad thing. The most obvious example (of a form of altruism) is investment (including but not limited to financial support, emotional investment and opportunity cost) in development of children by parents.

One can argue that since family has at its root the principle of altruism this can be extended to cover the state.

It can be rebutted in two says.

First the “altruism” which is supposed to be foundation of family is an extended version of self – interest

This Self interest again can be analyzed in two ways.

One is that parents invest in children because it improves the chances of propagation of the
genes. This is one of the most accepted views, I view it with skepticism for the reason it is sort of dead end, because no matter how obvious the evidence that instinct to propagate species is very strong, it doesn’t stand to the reasoning.

Second is that parent by investing in children are securing their own future.
This one may seem to be on rather thin ice, but I think that its importance is underestimated.
Case in point is Europe, her birth rate has fallen replacement level because parents are not willing to invest in children (all said and done gene propagation as a social construct is dubious)
Here I note that I am not denying the strength of filial love and affection, many parents will willingly risk themselves for sake of their children, but admitting that I can not explain it with reason alone, and therefore I discount it for discussing policies.

The second argument against the even if admitted that family is indeed based on “altruism”, it can be a basis of policy for state for the reason that altruism doesn’t scale well.
For society to thrive, the policies which are imposed by the state should be agreeable to the people on which these policies are being imposed.

An average man displays maximum altruistic tendencies (selflessness) towards his family, as the circle spreads to a wider group of people, the altruistic tendencies weaken and self-interest dominates his moral judgment and economic preferences.
This is the reason that policies which are based on self- interest will fare better than policies which are based on philanthropy.

I am not arguing against private charities. Those are a matter of individual preferences and discretion. My argument is that economic policy should not be based on charity.
I am also not commenting on whether a man should be altruist or not (this deserves another post), just arguing that as far as social scale is concerned man is not altruist and therefore any economic that force altruism will not succeed.