“The progressive dream, of a benevolent state”
That is an oxymoron. Government indifference flowers into corruption, and the process is directly proportional to the size of government. Bloat, waste and inefficiency grow exponentially. The more money a government takes, the greater the thirst for more money. It’s an insatiable spiral that eventually consumes all.
I agree with you that it’s an oxymoron, and I agree with the author of the line. That is, the left believes in a “benevolent state.” What they don’t get or don’t understand is that the state is just people doing their jobs, and when people have power they become, in the the great phrase of Lord Acton, corrupted - “Power corrupts. Absolute Power corrupts absolutely.”