"After all, isn’t it the responsibility of the government to look after the welfare of its people?"No.... (sigh).... it isn't. That is an appalling question.
It ought to leave people aghast and astonished that an "editor" of a national newspaper can presume, seemingly in complete innocence and without any hesitation, that the proper relationship betweeen State and society is akin to that between parents and young children. However, most people will more than likely be aghast and astonished at me for objecting to this, because the premises of both social democracy on the Left hand, and "one-nation" conservativism on the Right hand that permit the establishment of State welfare systems have festered in the culture for too long.
From a rather different perspective, it is supposedly the responsibility of government to provide for defense against collective threats and to administer a blind rule of law fidelious to the individual rights of everyone in society, properly understood in the negative (see my comments), which would preclude the abuse of the State as a monstrous vending machine.
The reason why this is so supposed is that asking people of disparate status, opinions and interests to consent to the institution of common law and government necessitates that those laws, and the conduct of that government, be such as to weigh upon everyone in the same kind and to the same degree.
The people's welfare is the responsibility of the people themselves, working in their private and voluntary capacities in the market and civil society.
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