Atrophy – a weakening. Either of muscle or of will.
OK, I admit it – I set the timer on the bedroom TV and put on Fox News most nites. Thus, I heard new (relatively, now) contributor to The Factor, Adam Carolla, when he first said this. Being what I thought was a Hollywood Liv, my jaw would have dropped to the floor had I not already been horizontal. While I do know that there are some Conservatives out there in the land of TV / Movie La-la’s, I did not expect such a strong statement against what Liberals believe to be the ultimate in Compassion – Govt handouts:
Here’s really what I object to: It’s not that certain people don’t need help from us, and the government. It’s that when you give too many people help, they start to atrophy….
My mother got food stamps, and we used food stamps, and she waited for her food stamps to come twice a month instead of go out and look for a job….
Should there be a Governmental safety net? I would be a hypocrite, as I have written before, that I haven’t used it in the past – but always as a temporary hand up than a hand out. Could a Civil Society have provided the same? Nowadays, I would have to say no – it, too, has atrophied. Oh, the names of the organizations may still be around, but they have atrophied as well due to the tax money they search out on bended knee. As a Budget Committee member in my town, I often chided them for being lazy in getting their money – ‘community support’ should not be judged at how well a small group of politicans can be wheedled out of their taxpayers hard earned cash. Going door to door to TRULY gain support? Too much effort (the essence of atrophy is a lack thereof).
Started back in the Wilsonian era and really got the ball rolling with New Deal when FDR decreed that anything worth doing was only worth it when the Government did it – and started in with the crowding out of true charitable and mutual aid societies that continue until now.
(H/T: Big Hollywood)
