A man was walking in the street when he heard a voice. “Stop! Stand still! If you take one more step, a brick will fall down on your head and kill you.” The man stopped and a big brick fell right in front of him. The man was astonished.
He went on, and after awhile he was going to cross the road. Once again the voice shouted, “Stop! Stand still! If you take one more step, a car will run over you and you will die.” The man did as he was instructed, just as a car came careening around the corner, barely missing him. “Where are you?” the man asked. “Who are you?”
“I am your guardian angel,” the voice answered.
“Oh yeah?” the man asked. “And where were you when I married my first wife!?”
The danger of the modern welfare state isn’t just the economic cost. It’s the quiet destruction of human agency. When the state replaces the dignity of work, it replaces purpose with dependency.