A hat tip to reader Jackson for alerting us to this YouTube video of a debate between Dalrymple and Belgian politician Frank Vandenbroucke on sentimentality, personal responsibility and the welfare state. It is 45 minutes long and well-argued. Although Vandenbroucke does bizarrely assert that America’s 1990s welfare reform made the system “much more generous” to its recipients. It actually did the opposite, and famously so, placing time limits on benefits, resulting in some states in a drop in the welfare rolls of 90%. Of course, one could easily argue that the “tough love” in this approach actually was more generous to recipients – massive numbers of them immediately found work and became productive citizens for the first time – but somehow I doubt this is what he meant.
The Skeptical Doctor
Dedicated to the work of Theodore Dalrymple
“Of course, one could easily argue that the “tough love” in this approach actually was more generous to recipients – massive numbers of them immediately found work and became productive citizens for the first time – but somehow I doubt this is what he meant.”
Yes, UK MP, Clare Short recently did a very similar thing on a live discussion, claiming that the cuts will ultimately make people question greed and selfishness and they’ll become more caring and generous, if not, life will be very miserable.
Something along those lines.