Infected with Marxism

The Dom Post's highlighted letter to the editor speaks badly for the DomPost for picking it, and for the person writing in. It demonstrates leftist thinking, so the errors in logic are applauded rather than detected for the errors in logic that they are. The letter seeks to beat up Paula Bennett for making a reasonable comment. The letter goes like this:

Paula Bennett's enthusiastic acceptance of a charity programme launching in NZ schools is all the more depressing when you consider her comment that "society as a whole" needs to have input into poverty. If she doesn't believe the state represents "society as a whole" could she tell us who exactly she thinks the state represents? - Signed Don Kavanagh

So let's go through this to see the problems with the Dom Post's "letter of the week":

1. We can argue the state doesn't represent "society as a whole", as Don seems to think is obvious. It's a bureaucratic machine, delivering legislated services and devising policy etc.
2. Even if we agree it represents society as a whole, it doesn't make it an exclusive representation. Other groups can represent "society as a whole". It would be far worse for Paula to assume that the Government is the one stop shop when it comes to representation.
3. And here's the key thing Don, that shows you are infected with leftism, perhaps full blown marxism: Stop putting so much emphasis on the State. Just because the state represents you, doesn't mean that you (and other people) cannot get directly involved in their community, and indeed, society as a whole. Just because some representative (who you may not have voted for) is representing your interests, don't assume that prevents you from taking Paula's advice. You can continue to provide input and participation into any ongoing issue, rather than abrogating your responsibilities to the State.

You can see this thinking in lefty circles, and increasingly in the so-called centre-right: The state should take care of things. Thus this letter sniping at Paula for her congratulating another group getting involved in helping tackle the problem of child nutrition. It means the State doesn't have to increase taxes to meddle in the affairs that society as a whole could solve without sitting back and saying "but nanny should take care of me".


Another example: Infected with Marxism