I've got a great big problem with welfare. It gnaws at me constantly; as an institution, it is so absurd an idea and fundamentally inconsistent for a nation with a market economy. When you get right down to it, the welfare state erodes and eats away at what is the American Dream.
First, I'd like to set the record. The American Dream is not spending a dollar on a lottery ticket and winning enough money to pay off the national debt. It is not living in a land that feeds and shelters and clothes you if you do not secure such necessities for your own self. The American Dream is not gaining employment because the government has mandated that businesses hire based on racial and gender quotas, leaving merit based discrimination in days of antiquity. The American Dream is about freedom and liberty. Most importantly, it is the freedom to work as hard as you like and reap the directly proportional rewards for that effort. Keep this idea in mind as you read the rest of this argument. Actually, we should, all of us, keep this idea in mind always.
Let's paint a little picture: on one side, the left, let's paint in a person in the color pink(o). On the right hand side, let's paint a person in either red, white, or blue (or all three, if you prefer). In the middle, we have the manipulated element; the dependent variable. Use whatever color you like, because people of all colors play the part of the dependent...variable, that is. Now that we have this little picture firmly in our heads, for those of us who are visual, we can begin to wrap our minds around this idea of left and right and welfare.
Keeping in mind the actual idea of the American Dream, take a look at the figure on the right. She is busy working and chasing a dollar, raising a family, improving her life little by little. Her view on the world is such that she doesn't much consider the person in the middle except when her money, that she earned by the sweat of her brow, is taken from her and redistributed among the people, in this case the person, in the middle. She thinks that if she can work hard, by using the brains in her head or otherwise, so can everyone else. Why take her money and give it to the person in the middle? Can they not use the brains in their head or otherwise to earn the same dollars that she does? Let's leave our lady on the right for a moment to catch her breath.
Over on the left, we have our pinko dude. He works, like our lady on the right, but when he pays taxes he forgets that those dollars ever belonged to him. In his mind, the money that the government took from him and gave to the person in the middle is not and never was the same. The government has their money, he has his money...he leaves it at that and refuses to acknowledge that the government's money is his money. What's more, when he considers the person in the middle, he can't help but feel pity-the worst of all emotions. He feels good when the government hands the person in the middle a big fat check (feel free to substitute "check" for any and all forms of welfare) because he can go to sleep that night knowing that the person in the middle has some food and shelter.
Our popular culture and various media outlets would have you feel animus towards the woman on the right for her cold hearted and selfish attitude. At the same time, they hold up the guy on the left as a beacon of humanity. You may be wondering why I have a problem with this. Okay, I'll explain and maybe it'll begin to gnaw on you too.
Let's take our pinko dude and his basis of thought again. How, by constantly handing out freebies, does he actually assist the person in the middle to improve their overall station? Does a cheap, run-down, poorly located, unattractive but low cost house do the person in the middle any good? Are they proud of the freebie trash that they didn't even earn? How about providing, not only a shelter, but all the required necessities for living? Ever have a dog who didn't have to earn his meals? It's a natural thing, you know, for animals to have to work for their food, especially dogs. A dog that sits in the house all day and exerts no energy towards a meal will be an unbalanced dog. Ask Cesar Milan. Or read pg. 164 of Be the Pack Leader (I've got a copy). I'll tie it in now. Anyone who has raised a child and a dog knows that they are very much alike in terms of learning and behavioral development. They require tough love sometimes in order to grow and mature. As a leader of small military units, I have learned that adults, specifically young soldiers, are very much like children. Now, with my soldiers, my dog, or my daughter...if I ever gave them anything for free they would, in no way, appreciate it or take pride in it or take ownership of it. I'm sure you have a story of your own that relates. Whenever I built a bicycle from scrap parts as a kid, I always love my bike more than the next door neighbor loved his bike - the one whose parents paid for everything. What has the person in the middle had to work for? What do they have to be proud of? What point of pride do they have to take ownership of when everything is given to them?
I almost think that democrats know that welfare keeps the poor in poverty and work very hard to perpetuate the institution. They keep giving handouts and promise more handouts in the future and look like saviors in exchange for votes. If the person in the middle had a clue, they'd realize that the lady on the right's selfishness is the ticket out of poverty. She doesn't care if they are poor, she doesn't care if they are rich. She only cares if they can help her. This is how the market economy works. Supply and demand. If they can work hard to supply a demand that she has then PRESTO, something to take ownership of and hang on the wall. A point of pride.
Let's go back to the American Dream again. The lady on the right has, as does everyone, the right to work her hind end off to make a better life for herself...she should also have the right to fade away into nothingness. That's part of the deal. That's the idea of America: you reap what you sow. Why shouldn't the person in the middle have the right to fade away? Is the American Dream only for those who are willing to put in the effort and then have some of their reward taken away and given to those who put forth nothing? I hope the irony of the situation is obvious. America was founded on principles grounded in liberty; but, today we have a Robin Hood system where we take from the rich and give to the poor. Where is the liberty for the rich or the poor in this scenario?
I'm sure you know that almost (or just more than) half of the annual federal budget is entitlements, in other words: welfare. If we were to cut off entitlements for two years, we would be able to pay the entire national debt off. Ever bitch about how we have to borrow money from the Chinese? What that really means is that the Chinese buy our bonds and when the Fed. sells a bond they print more money and POOF, more debt. If we all bitch enough about entitlements, maybe we can buy back those bonds someday.
Call me heartless all you like, but remember this the next time you watch Pocahontas with your kids: the Jamestown settlement did not become a disaster because John Smith made everyone do equal work or they didn't get to eat. He wasn't willing to sacrifice the colony so that a portion of the population could sit on their asses. No, I'm not heartless. I have no problem helping someone out. Welfare, though, in it's current state, is more like pouring gasoline on a fire. Why not make it mandatory for someone on welfare to enroll in a vocational/technology school? At least, this way there is progress to be made and an outlet that might keep that person from ever returning to welfare. Welfare monies would also go a lot farther if corruption were held to a minimum. In Mississippi, when I worked Katrina disaster relief, I watched a woman, dressed to the nines, buy two grocery carts full of junk and pay with food stamps. When I got out to the parking lot, she was stuffing her ample self into an eighty thousand dollar Mercedes Benz. I could go on and on about Katrina and welfare. Another time.
Welfare is anathema to our American Dream. Don't be mislead into thinking that these government freebies are anything less than socialism. Robin Hood never wanted the American Dream; he wanted to take money from the lady on the right and give it to the person in the middle. Robin Hood was the pinko on the left; and, he can take his pity and blow it out his ear.
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