Land Of The Free-loader

While reading my morning newspaper and seeing so many stories about private citizens "demanding" that their government (i.e., the taxpaying segment of the population, not the 40% of Americans who pay no taxes but receive a huge proportion of services) take care of their responsibilities, I am reminded how the U.S. has been transformed from a nation of freedom into a nation of freeloaders- people who expect others to do what they should do to care for themselves.

Two examples of this from today's local newspaper (and there were many others I could cite as well) involved a 'Meals on Wheels' food program that my parish government sponsors to provide a free hot meal that is delivered to any elderly resident's of my parish who is "poor'" (a nebulous term that is hard to define and often used to justify freebies in return for votes for the politicians who give away the tax money I pay and seem to have no choice in directing as to appropriate cause). The article lamented how "cruel" it is to "deny food to the elderly" and so on. A number of the (able body) people who will lose the free meals cried the familiar refrain that "it's my right to have those meals".

Before the U.S. declined into a nation of entitlements, such rhetoric would have been unspoken. People took care of themselves or had family or community groups to help before they would ever think of asking for taxpayers to "bail them out". The meals on wheels is a nice program, but in a time of financial crisis I hardly think it is necessary or a right to receive home delivered meals- for any age group.

Another example from the paper today is the Head Start program. This is a federal government funded "early education" program in which people who are "poor" (here we go again) can send their kids to preschool free. The federal government gives money to the states who allocate it to applicant. Only the "poor" have this free pre school education because pre school education is rarely funded by state or local governments on the basis that the cost outweighs the benefits. But the "poor moms" interviewed about their kids not getting this freebie this year due to a lack of funds to cover all the "poor" applicants were indignant. They ranted about the "rich" (anyone not getting these kinds of low income/ no income perks) sending their kids to pre school (but never mentioning that the rich" themselves pay for the cost to do so). I kept reading that it was "my right to have my child in pre school", but not once any mention of parental obligation to provide for his or her child as a first means to do so. Most recipients of such programs are chronic users of the many free programs that the United States of Freeloaders now offers.

I wonder how much damage to this country the entitlement mentality has created. From the wasteful unnecessary bail-out programs of the Obama administration and Congress that has made the U.S. a nation with huge debts to the endless list of freeloader programs aimed at all levels of income (every vote counts at election time so every income level is given much!) the U.S. is being crushed by a mountain of debt and is no longer a country of ingenuity and self reliance. We expect "the government" to be our daddy and pay our way.

Today we are living in the land of the freeloader, for certain a self destructive existence