The welfare state again. In a recent article, Patrick J. Buchanan asks the Question “Did ‘the Great Society’ Ruin society?”[1] He is onto something with this approach; he cites that almost half of all Americans are receiving some form of government assistance. America
since the New Deal are evidence of just how ruined America has become. Though I don’t agree with Michael Savage in terms of disenfranchisement, I do think he is right that welfare controls the American vote.[2] Voters have learned to vote for whatever politician will give them the most; they’ve ‘learned to give themselves a raise.’ Americans have really bought into the campaign promises of America politicians, many of which will never be followed through with, or if they are will have huge caveats never mentioned in the campaign. Citizens have no longer want smaller government as presented by civil libertarians, because they have become What the upon the support, which they receive, in the countless social programs the government provides. Americans no longer understand what real poverty is, and besides that they no longer understand what it means to persevere. Yes, there is poverty in America, but it is nowhere near as prevalent as it is in Europe or even during America’s greatest generation.
Voters no longer will vote for a politician, which will cut social security or Medicare or even the Department of Education. It is important to remember, the Department of Education, as well as the Department of Energy did not exist until the Carter administration, and America got along just fine without them.[3] It is cutting the fat that most Americans are opposed to, voters want a better economy while still enjoying all the welfare money they receive. Here in lies the problem, Americans cannot have their cake and eat it too. If welfare programs, so-called entitlement programs are not cut or at least amended to a lower level, then the economy will not survive, nor will capitalism live. America is moving further towards the state capitalism of China, though most Keynesians want to deny it, the Fed is helping to further such social control. People do not realize that through government control they are giving up more freedom, because if an individual accepts money, then they have to keep voting for those that will continue its flow, and in that they are not truly free.
It is amazing that under the Obama administration, an individual can receive unemployment for up to three years. Many recipients are seeing this as a time to take a vacation, not work, while they are receiving government goodies (Social security was only ever intended to be a supplement, not a retirement plan; Unemployment was intended to help those in the case they suddenly lose their job, not to facilitate a vacation). They see no need to really look for a job because they are living pretty comfortably by not doing anything at all. These recipients will vote for whomever will keep the money coming, because though some really have fallen upon hard times, are really enjoying their time off. The problem is those that are just lazy or are taught by the system to be lazy, are using social programs improperly; the lazy are taking money from those that really need it to survive. Its those that take the program as a last resort, or are too proud to accept it at all that will make due by working the two jobs or cutting their lifestyle for a while until they are able to get better employment in order to facilitate the “American Dream”. In a recent speech to autoworkers, president Obama described the “New American Dream”, which is apparently “working hard and living in their means.”[4]
When growing up, my parents raised me on a different “American Dream”, and its still a dream open to everyone. The “American Dream” that I was raised upon is that we are all created equal by our creator, and we all have a shot to become rich, through our own hard work and innovation. However, recently the administration has engaged in much class warfare. Politicians on both sides of the aisle, as well as the occupy movement have latched onto several phrases, including: paying their fair share, millionaires, billionaires and the richest one percent. Though they do not realize it, the populous is being conditioned on the highest level for socialism. In such a system, the government is repeatedly trying to put the citizenry on equal footing, but their distribution is more equal to a modern day Robin Hood.[5] They look to the government to loot for them for the success they do not have and do not want to put in the effort to achieve. The looters will have to learn to survive on their own if they no longer receive a government hand out. If they cannot learn to make do on their own, then it is their own fault that they will fail in survival. This might seem cold, but there is other ways to help those that really cannot help themselves.
Hard economics should be seen as a survival of the fittest, but there is a way to still have some humanity for those that cannot help themselves: Charity. Charity is not government mandated as the welfare system is, and it takes true goodness of heart in order to help a person out of charity. Not making charity compulsory really makes it a truly good gesture, rather than being a requirement it is made an act of love for humanity. It is this type of “good” that Plato reaches for in his “Allegory of the Cave.”
America cannot cut the social umbilical cord unless the voting populace truly wants that change. They have to truly understand that the situation cannot get better unless some growing pains are endured. Americans live the most comfortable life style in the world, and in order to help this life style endure, voters have to learn that they need to pick themselves up by their boot straps, give up a little bit of comfort, to hopefully achieve more comfort later on. Cutting welfare programs will cause taxes to lower, profits to go up and will help to cut into the national debt which is now up to 110% of GDP.[6] Reagan called such an economic situation the “trickle down effect,” and it is very true of what cutting at the government level can do to help the private sector.[7] If America continues to spend at its current rate, then it will quickly reach its Weimar moment. When that moment is reached, then a wheelbarrow full of one hundred dollar bills will not buy enough bread to feed a family of three.
[1] http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/26/2659400/did-great-society-ruin-american.html
[2] http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200810230016
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Education; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Energy
[4] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbdKuDNIqGI. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ_36D-NvnA
[5] http://www.forbes.com/sites/objectivist/2011/05/06/its-time-to-kill-the-robin-hood-myth/
[6] http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/26/2659400/did-great-society-ruin-american.html
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trickle-down_economics