Once again, back to the email well. This came from a while ago, where one person was complaining, as a taxpayer, about the entitlement mentality (emphasis mine):
There are no “ifs” about it…its was a failure the moment it was conceived…what we are being pushed into is an escalation of class warfare…I’ve stated many time publicly that I resent the poor…anyone can be poor…it takes a responsible minded person who wants more out of life to do what is necessary to be a productive citizen that doesn’t drain the life out of the rest of society…certainly we need to take care of those that CANNOT take care of themselves, but we MUST stop this entitlement mentality…free cell phones paid for by those of use that pay our phone bills, free cars for people on welfare so they can find a job, EBT cards instead of those humiliating food stamps, free and subsidized rents, etc…
There was one person that got very upset, saying that due to circumstances beyond their control, the Safety Net was used and this person felt quite put upon. However, I differed, and this was my reply:
<redacted 1>, let me gently wade in here – I don’t think <redacted 2> meant the help that is actually temporary in nature – as you used that govt help for a transitory time period for you and <redacted 3>. There is a need for a safety net – and you used it as such but not as a permanent resting spot. I think that few here resent the use of their tax monies for such (even as I do wish that we could go back to more of a family / neighbors / friends helping first – but why should they in this environment of "hey, the Govt will help!").
It is those that go on the long term dole (we have to get away from the phrasing of ‘assistance’ for long term cases – it IS ‘being on the dole’!) that bring up the most heartburn. It IS that entitlement mindset that drives the rest of us crazy against the unfairness of "why do WE have to work and THEY don’t have to??"
It isn’t those that CAN’T work – such as the real infirm, the real aged – it is those that are scamming the system.
You have no idea of the anger I felt when one welfare mom after another dragged their kid(s) into my daycare biz on State aid and said "I stay home to take care of my kids" – and there was MY wife standing their with OUR two boys
– working.
If my wife could work – so could they. A major part of the problem is that the incentives are too great and too "stepped" to move away from dependence on the dole system.
And Obama and his ilk are only making that mentality more the norm rather than not. Shame and stigma has almost been eliminated from our vocabulary unless you are a conservative that runs afoul of their warping our common vocabulary via Political Correctness Castration.
Face it, by changing the delivery mechanisms so as to blend in (putting aside the money "saved" by using a rechargeable card in the short term) with the productive class, what is the incentive to join that productive class? People, in general, operate for their own self-interest – if given something for free, and if by working, you have to assume a risk and a decline in income to progress higher, many choose not to.
In effect, what we see at the low end all the time as people make the financial / leisure time calculus, we are starting to see at the high end – due to taxes. At the low end, as they become successful, the "takeaway" of the dole and the increased taxes act as a drag on the poor – why work harder when it will cost more? The incentive is to remain poor (and therefore, accept dependency upon the public dole) rather than to succeed.
Ditto at the high end – why work harder when confiscatory taxes takeaway the incentive to work harder? The problem at this end of the spectrum is that these folks are the ones most likely to pay the higher taxes, and more importantly, hire those further down the economic ladder.
Thus, in the guise of helping the bottom and taking from the top to do so, perverse incentives hurt us all. Effectively and negatively, Government policies tell people: "it is not worth it to strive to be the best you can be – because we will punish you."
The Bigger the Government, the smaller the citizen.
