Posted on 03/20/2010 5:38:12 PM PDT by Conservative Coulter Fan
Abstract: Despite the famed 1996 Welfare Reform Act and the more recent welfare adjustments in 2006, 60.8 million Americans remain dependent on the government for their daily housing, food, and health care. The number of taxpayers is shrinking--and the country may be rapidly approaching the point where more than one-third of Americans do not pay taxes for benefits they receive. In February 2009, the Democrat-controlled Congress and the new Obama Administration may have driven the final stake into the heart of any semblance of fiscal responsibility when they enacted the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act--essentially overturning the fiscal foundation of welfare reform.
Starting in 2016, Social Security will not collect enough in taxes to pay all of the promised benefits-- which is a problem for all workers, but especially for the roughly half of the American workforce that has no other retirement program.
Add in spiraling academic grants, flat-out farm socialism, and the swelling ranks of Americans who believe themselves entitled to public-sector benefits for which they pay few or no taxes--and Americans must ask themselves whether they are near a tipping point in the nature of their government.
The budget, welfare, and policy experts at the Heritage Foundation lay out the gloomy facts--in the hopes of pulling Americans back from the brink of complete dependence on the government.
The 2008 election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, and the energetic, state-centered policy program advanced by his new government in 2009 will likely mark a turning point in the history of American public policy. The new Administration's record is still taking shape as this report goes to press--but presidents elected with enormous support, such as that which put Barack Obama in the White House, rarely fail to reshape some of the fundamental public policies they pledged to change.
Certainly, President Obama wasted little time in converting his strong electoral margin into a campaign for policy changes that increased government control both over the economy as well as over the wider society. From virtually the first day, the Obama Administration rapidly advanced programs and initiatives that deepened and expanded American citizens' dependency on government. From new and expanded federal programs designed to boost economic activity to health care reform that placed the U.S. government at the center of the nation's health care system, the central thrust of policy since January 2009 has been to increase Americans' daily dependency on Washington.
Some highlights
Entitlements. The issue of dependence is particularly salient today when more and more Americans are about to begin their reliance on government during retirement. At age 65, retirees are eligible to collect income from Social Security and health care benefits from Medicare or Medicaid.[1] Currently, these programs make up 41 percent of all non-interest federal program spending. Over the next two decades, that spending will increase to nearly 62 percent of non-interest spending as 10,000 baby boomers per day retire and begin to collect benefits. Jointly, these programs will enable the government dependency of nearly 80 million baby boomers.
Conclusion
Public policy appears to matter in the growth of the Index of Dependence on Government. The rapid increase in the 1960s and 1970s corresponds with a new commitment by the federal government to solve local social and economic problems, which had previously been the responsibility of local governments, civil society organizations, and communities and families. The sum of government employees and the population covered by programs contained in this Index grew dramatically, even after accounting for the military buildup for the Vietnam War during the mid-1960s.
The 1980s and 1990s generally witnessed much slower growth in the Index. Indeed, if the period 1989 through 1993 had reflected the policies of the periods 1981-1988 and 1994-2001, the Index would have decreased in value. However, rather than fall, the Index appears to have resumed the growth rates attained during the Carter and George H. W. Bush Administrations.
Americans should be concerned about this seemingly relentless upward march in Index scores. Dependence on the federal government for life's many challenges strips civil society of its historical and necessary role in providing aid and renewal through the intimate relationships of family, community, and local institutions and governments. While the Index does not measure the decay of civil society, it reflects its declining role in this most important aspect of life.
Americans' concern over the growth of the Index should be particularly high for another reason: Americans find themselves on the eve of the largest retirement of people in world history--at the same time that the number of "taxpayers" who pay no taxes is growing steadily. This country's republican form of government, with its finely balanced mixture of civil and political institutions and charitable roles probably could withstand some additional, but only limited, increases in the dependent population as defined in this essay.
Can it stand, however, against the swelling ranks of Americans who believe themselves entitled to public-sector benefits for which they pay few or no taxes? Are Americans completely indifferent to history's many examples of experiments in republican government collapsing under the weight of just such a population? Are Americans near a tipping point in the nature of their government and the principles that tie it to civil life?
A fair reading of these trends and the data contained in this Index leads almost inescapably to the view that yes, Americans have reached that point.
"The liberal agenda is the liberal neurosis made manifest. It is not a rational program for the organization of human action. It is instead an irrational conglomeration of neurotic defenses which the modern liberal uses for his mental and emotional equilibrium. By attacking the sovereignty of the individual and the institutions essential to ordered liberty, the agenda attacks the very foundations of a free society. In fact, modern liberalism does not seek authentic freedom, despite its historical association with that ideal, nor does it foster the individual’s growth to competence. It does not promote the virtues of individual liberty: not self-reliance, responsibility, dependability or accountability; not cooperation by consent or initiative or industry; not high moral standards or caring or altruism. It does not seek a society of sovereign citizens, but fosters instead a society of allegedly victimized dependents under the custodial care of the state. In keeping with its origins in early childhood, the liberal agenda endorses self-indulgence through short-term hedonism and primitive impulse gratification. In keeping with its ethic of injustice collecting, the agenda seeks ever increasing government regulation to defeat alleged villains, and ever increasing levels of unearned compensation, reparation and restitution to compensate alleged victims. In keeping with its secular tradition, modern liberalism attacks the legitimacy of formal religion, dismisses its historical importance and denies its critical role in maintaining the nation’s moral integrity. ... Under the creed of modern liberalism the individual citizen is not called to maturity but is instead invited to begin a second childhood. Like the child at play, he is given, or at least promised, ultimate economic, social and political security without having to assume responsibility for himself. The liberal agenda requires him to remain in an artificial environment--the daycare program of the grandiose state--where he need not become an adult, take responsibility for his own welfare, nor cooperate with others to achieve what the state will give him for nothing. ... The liberal agenda’s favors seduce the people a little at a time, always playing on their regressive longings to be indulged. Favor by favor, accompanied by the constant drumbeat of entitlement propaganda, the otherwise intelligent citizen is led to an increasingly erroneous conception of the proper role of government in a free society. Like a child molester, the liberal politician grooms his constituents until their natural cautions against yielding power in exchange for favors dissolves in reassurance."--Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr., M.D., author of Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness
"The task of weaning various people and groups from the national nipple will not be easy. The sound of whines, bawls, screams and invective will fill the air as the agony of withdrawal pangs finds voice."--Linda Bowles
"Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition."--Thomas Jefferson
"Most Americans aren't the sort of citizens the Founding Fathers expected; they are contented serfs. Far from being active critics of government, they assume that its might makes it right."--Joseph Sobran
"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well."--Booker T. Washington
Awesome, and thanks!
Now I am even more depressed...
“While the Index does not measure the decay of civil society, it reflects its declining role in this most important aspect of life.”
Nope. I think it pretty much shows the DECAY of civil society. Just wait to see how quickly things become ‘uncivil’ when that first welfare check or food stamp credit card isn’t delivered!
Man, I’m sick of pulling this wagon. Aren’t the rest of you?
I could EASILY live on a $38K income full of perks and goodies from My Fellow Americans!
If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my bunker. Drinking. Heavily. ;)
Let’s hear it for the War on Poverty.
ping
Starting in 2010, Social Security will not collect enough in taxes to pay all of the promised benefits
Fixed the date for ya
Rome’s aflame...now where’s that damned fiddle?
Do away with one man one vote. It was a nice idea back in the day but that day has changed. There are way too many people living on hand outs and there is no way that the founding fathers ever envisioned something like that.
Have weighted voting based on the taxes you pay. It would be also nice if we could choose which government departments we want our tax money going to when we file our income taxes.
It’s about time that the people paying the fiddler get to call the tune.
Or, more simply, no representation without taxation.
LOL! Federal, state, county and municipal job cuts first! ...too many busybodies and not enough private sector manufacturing!
Government employees, BTW, including local government employees, vote Democrat!
Despite the famed 1996 Welfare Reform Act and the more recent welfare adjustments in 2006, 60.8 million Americans remain dependent on the government for their daily housing, food, and health care.It's almost as if anything that's subsidized grows, and wouldn't that be surprising? The government could send all 60.8 million welfare update bulletins on text messaging or two-way, the poor downtrodden bastards.
Found it earlier. Good post.
and America takes another one in the........
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