Welfare State Dispute
Another dispute emerged after Sloterdijk's article Die Revolution der gebenden Hand (June 13, 2009; transl. "The revolution of the giving hand") in the Frankfurter Allgemeine, one of Germany’s most widely read newspapers. There Sloterdijk claimed that the national welfare state is a "fiscal kleptocracy" that had transformed the country into a "swamp of resentment" and degraded its citizens into "mystified subjects of tax law".
Sloterdijk opened the text with the famous quote of leftist critics of capitalism (made famous in the 19th century by Proudhon in his "What Is Property?") "Property is theft", stating, however, that it is nowadays the modern state that is the biggest taker. "We are living in a fiscal grabbing semi-socialism- and nobody calls for a fiscal civil war."
He repeated his statements and stirred up the debate in his articles titled Kleptokratie des Staates (transl. "Kleptocracy of the state") and Aufbruch der Leistungsträger (transl. "Breakdown of the performers") in the German monthly Cicero - Magazin für politische Kultur.
According to Sloterdijk, the institutions of the welfare state lend themselves to a system that privileges the marginalized, but relies, unsustainably, on the class of citizens who are materially successful. Sloterdijk's provocative recommendation was that income taxes should be abolished, in favor of a system in which the fiscal needs of the state are met by voluntary contributions from the rich. Achievers would be praised for their generosity, rather than being made to feel guilty for their success, or resentful of society's dependence on them.
In January 2010, an English translation was published, titled A Grasping Hand - The modern democratic state pillages its productive citizens, in Forbes and in the Winter 2010 issue of City Journal.
Sloterdijk's 2010 book, "Die nehmende Hand und die gebende Hand" (The taking hand and the giving hand), contains the texts that triggered the 2009-2010 welfare state dispute.
Read more about this topic: Peter Sloterdijk
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