Welcome to the Welfare State

According to an Associated Press article, Welfare state growing despite overhauls, there are now more people on the government dole than when restriction were put in place to cut the welfare ranks. Like any good mismanaged government program, those who were booted off welfare landed in other taxpayer-funded social aid programs--such as Medicaid, food stamp programs, and/or disability programs. (Talk about rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic!)

Quoting from the above AP article:

The result, according to an Associated Press analysis: Nearly one in six people rely on some form of public assistance, a larger share than at any time since the government started measuring two decades ago.

The article goes on to explain that approximately 44,000,000 Americans receive some form of financial public assistance. That, my friends, is a big number. How big? Let's look at this number by State population:

STATE*	POPULATION
Wyoming	515,004
Vermont	623,908
North Dakota	635,867
Alaska	670,053
South Dakota	781,919
Delaware	853,476
Montana	944,632
Rhode Island	1,067,610
Hawaii	1,285,498
New Hampshire	1,314,895
Maine	1,321,574
Idaho	1,466,465
Nebraska	1,768,331
West Virginia	1,818,470
New Mexico	1,954,599
Nevada	2,495,529
Utah	2,550,063
Kansas	2,764,075
Arkansas	2,810,872
Mississippi	2,910,540
Iowa	2,982,085
Connecticut	3,504,809
Oklahoma	3,579,212
Oregon	3,700,758
TOTAL:	44,320,244

*Figures taken from U.S. Census Estimates

If we add up the populations of the states from lowest to highest, it would take 24 states before we exceeded 44,000,000 people. Almost half the states in the nation would have every person in their boundaries receiving some form of public assistance... ALMOST HALF!

How long do you suppose this country will survive with that many people living off the rest? Furthermore, how good is our economy if one in six Americans requires assistance just to get by? Looking back to the article, here's a quote I especially liked:

"I don't have any problems with [social welfare] programs growing, and indeed, they were intended to grow," said Ron Haskins, a former adviser to President Bush on welfare policy.

"We've taken the step of getting way more people into the labor force and they have taken a huge step toward self-sufficiency. What is the other choice?" he asked.

Imagine: a government worker who sees no problem with taxpayer-funded programs growing in size. That's like an investor being happy that his portfolio is growing in value. To do otherwise would mean ruin to both. But, Mr. Haskins asked us a question. Indeed, what is the other choice? Could it be to stop giving taxpayer funds away? Let's be perfectly clear on this... Government is NOT a charity! Government is NOT a safety net.

The choice is simple: We either defund these programs or go bankrupt!

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess of the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.

~ Sir Alexander Fraser Tytler

We're well on our way...