That triggered something I've been mulling over for awhile, so I'll toss it out.
I think the evil of socialism has made possible the evil of dependency, and vice versa...they are mutually enabling...and I think the word "evil" fits well. I think a destructive cycle (the opposite of a virtuous cycle, if you will) exists.
How do we try to deal with that, which we must if we are to survive as a republic?
If we roll the tape backward, we can see the welfare state created the conditions that make dependency not only possible, but for many a logical choice. While they are mutually enabling, it seems to me we have much greater odds of success if we tackle one...especially if it undermines the other.
I think declaring war on the welfare state/big government is the way we get there. IOW, winning the fiscal war makes the culture war much more winnable.
Dependancy and the personal decay that produces it are not possible if the check doesn't come every month.
That's why I have no problem that Mitch Daniels said we should put social issues on a back burner in favor of fiscal issues...you fight both by doing so, and create the fertile soil for personal reclamation.
There's no doubt in my mind that a sizeable, perhaps majority constituency exists inside the GOP establishment for big government. They are RAT lite.
I'm not an optimist on our chances of uprooting them or changing them because of the nature of their positions.
That's why I apply a filter to candidates...are they big government enablers? Romneycare should remove all doubt that he is.
I agree. When you see your mother watching for the check, the benefits, the Christmas turkey -- you believe that is how it is supposed to work. If the money coming in was brought home by way of mother AND father (replace Dad in the family) another dynamic happens -- in many ways, to all touched by that independence and control over their lives -- they get their pride back.