Latter day slavery

Ah Sweden. That utopian paradise our wanna-be social democratic government hankers after. Last week a visiting Swedish professor, Joakim Palme, told a social policy conference in Wellington that New Zealand needs to get more woman, particularly sole mothers, into the workforce. This in order to pay for the continuance of the welfare state and, in particular, the ageing population.

Of course he is right - if you want a continuance of the welfare state. Women should be slaves to it to the same degree men are. Mothers shouldn't stay home raising their children when they could be tax-paying units in the workforce. They should have no choice in the matter.

Then again, if you didn't want the welfare state, that is, the government prescribing how, for our own good, we should all live, you would want people to be able to make their own choices (with the important proviso that they can pay for those choices).