Basic Income and Why the State DOES Owe You A Living

Some people complain about welfare recipients and deride some of them as people who ‘think the state owes them a living.’

But you know what? Perhaps it does! And here’s why:

Historically, people used to be able to make a living from the land. They were free to harvest the bounty of nature. They went foraging. They hunted. They went fishing. They planted their own crops. They grazed animals on common land. They chopped wood in the forest.

It was the state that took away our freedoms to support ourselves in these traditional ways. It allowed and encouraged land to be sectioned off and divided amongst a relatively small section of society. A small number of people become wealthy landowners. Almost everyone else was demoted to being dependent on those wealthy landowners for access to the land and to the food supply.

Wealth continues to be concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number of people. The state, through its laws, police, courts and officials, supports this status quo — even though the uneven distribution of wealth is largely an accident of history, rather than any sort of fair reflection of merit.

There are understandable reasons why the state acts as it does in respect of protecting property rights. Most ordinary people want stability —…