Free Republic

The concept of ‘welfare’ has become an open, bottomless vessel into which every desire can be poured. One of the most successful linguistic hijackings ever is the Left’s appropriation of the term “welfare state.”No one opposes the most basic version of a welfare state, one that provides essential public facilities, cares for the destitute and unfortunate, educates children, and protects public health and safety. Indeed, as the Supreme Court said in 1881, during an era regarded by the Left as a dark-age trough, “It will not be denied by any one that these are public purposes in which the whole...