Of what value is welfare pluralism in a context where the state pursues an institutional redistributive model?

people are social creatures. we do best when everybody does a share to help. Ayn Rand is not representative of the real world. when it comes to taxes, it is not a quid pro quo, but rather it is the mechanism for getting resources to those in need. For example look at the hurricane Sandy. we ask that people with houses contribute to rebuild those that got destroyed. FEMA is the government agency that coordinates that. The losing presidential candidates wanted to eliminate FEMA because managing emergencies was "a redistribution of wealth". Just one reason why they lost the election, that is just not how people feel.