Why we need a real Nanny State!
Nanny statism! Certain a pejorative term if I ever heard one. It is no compliment to refer to government as the Nanny State. But exactly why are we using this term?
I was thinking that in real life a Nanny is nothing like the Nanny state. She, or I guess even he, these days, can be fired. She is hired to do a specific job and if her employers don't like the job she is doing she's out of there.
She doesn't treat her employers the way Nanny State does. The real Nanny is hired to watch children for the parents. She is not hired to watch adults and treat them like children. If she tried she'd be fired. A real Nanny has specific functions and if she oversteps them she is in trouble.
But the Nanny State is a very different matter. There the State is constantly intruding into more and more areas. And if you don't like it too bad. The State is the boss and you are the servant. This is the complete opposite of the situation with a real Nanny.
The genuine Nanny is a market phenomenon. She sells a service to a willing buyer. It is entirely free of coercion. Not so for the State. You tell the Nanny what you want done but the State tells you what you must do.
A real Nanny doesn't determine the rules of the household where she works. She may discuss them and, if she doesn't like them, she can move on. But she doesn't come into a household and order them about unless the parents in the home accept the idea. At best she can persuade them to change their ways but she has no power to force such changes.
Consider a real Nanny. She wouldn't be able to tell parents whether or not they can smoke in their own living room. She might suggest they avoid doing so around the children but she has no coercive powers at all. She can't control the television they watch or the jobs they occupy. She has none of the abilities attributed to the Nanny State.
The real Nanny had to negotiate a salary. She couldn't just issue a bill and force the family to pay her whatever she deemed necessary at the time.
In fact the Nanny in real life is an entirely voluntary, market service. She has to provide benefits in excess of her costs otherwise people refuse to hire her.
But the State is nothing like a Nanny. It orders around adults not children. It has the power to force individuals into being unwilling "clients". In fact that is the major difference between the State and a Nanny. The Nanny is devoid of the power to force anyone into anything. Everything she does must be with willing, voluntary clients and what "authority" she has is negotiated with the parents.
Ah, but Nanny had the ability to discipline children and this is what is meant by the Nanny State. It is when the State treats all of us like children.
But again this is not the case with a real Nanny who has to consider the different needs of the children under her care. She has to flexible. The State is rarely flexible.
But more importantly the Nanny never has ultimate authority even over the children. She is a hired care giver responsible to a higher authority who can sack her instantly if she over steps her bounds. The State, however, is not subjected to such competing centres of power. The State has a monopoly on power and no Nanny in history has ever had that.
It seems that if the State were truly a Nanny State we'd be better off. It couldn't take on powers beyond those originally assigned to it. It would have no power to order adults around. It could be fired on a moments notice. And it has to work for the wages we are willing to pay. It would be an entirely voluntary service offered up between competing individuals. A Nanny State would be an improvement.
All items in this journal reflect the personal opinions of the author and are not necessarily those of the Institute for Liberal Values or its Board members.
Previous (Libertarians and the Right: A wrong alliance today) - Next (Heaven on Earth)
Nannies to Right of Us, Nannies to the Left of Us.
Welcome Home: the journeys of David Mamet and George McGovern.
Dominion Post in needless panic
Does Liberalism Have a Heart?
The moral problems of state power in regards to war.
Kiwi health: spend more, care less
Hurricanes and hot air: the sequel
Morality and Consistency: Why Left and Right both threaten freedom.
Ageing, population and the welfare state.
The bankruptcy of conservatism.
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Institute for Liberal Values, Friday September 10th 2010. |
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