Catallaxy ® Institute - Classical Liberalism

There are good reasons why we should endeavour to use whatever political organization we have at our disposal to make provision for the weak or infirm or for the victims of unforseeable disaster. It may well be true that the most effective method to provde against certain risks common to all citizens of a state is to give every citizen protection against those risks. The level on which such provisions against common risks can be made will necessarily depend on the general wealth of the community. It is an entirely different matter, however, to suggest that those who are poor, merely in the sense that there are in the same community of those who are richer, are entitled to a share in the wealth of the latter or that being born into a group which has reached a certain level of civilization and comfort confers a title to a share in all its benefits.

Hayek, Friedrich A.

The Constitution of Liberty

1960 , p. 101