“It is easy for most folk to accept comfort, and freedom from responsibility.”

“It is easy for most folk to accept comfort, and freedom from responsibility. The Welfare State offers both. The New Zealander is born into social security that extends from womb to tomb. Everyone gets it, and it is only as taxes fall due that the average citizen becomes conscious that he pays for it. A benevolent state showers everyone with benefits. In sickness and old age, the benefits are barely adequate to provide subsistence, it they are given to all, rich or poor, thrifty or improvident, equally and impartially. What was begun as human relief of misfortune is now an inalienable universal right [sic] irrespective of need. On their passage between the taxpayer’s pocket and his benefit cheque these transfer payments support a corps of public officials.
    “In this benevolent and indiscriminate redistribution of income, and still more in the administration of the regulations that govern his working life, the New Zealander’s freedom of choice is attenuated.”

~ J.B. Condliffe, from his 1969 book The Economic Outlook for New Zealand (p. 150)