The Non-Producing Consumer and the Slavery of Liberalism

Liberalism enslaves.  It is in the very nature of liberalism – modern liberalism – to destroy personal freedoms and enslave the weak.  Since the mid 1880s, there has been a dream held by a few members of American society that the free market capitalist system had failed the average American worker and that it must be the role of the national government to regulate fairness.  Since then, there has been little restraint placed on the march to total socialism in this nation.  The United States is now faced with nearly a fifteen trillion dollar debt; deficit spending for 2011 is expected to reach somewhere near three trillion.  A significant portion of the debt comes in the form of social programs that continues the advancement of socialism within this nation.

As the debate on the national budget continues, the Democratic Party has insisted that there are a number of programs that cannot be cut or reformed:  national healthcare, Medicaid, Medicare, unemployment compensation, social security, food stamps, education, housing subsidies, public transportation subsidies, and so on.  The American public has been told since the 1930s that the federal government has the responsibility to help those who are “less fortunate” than the middle class.  At the same time each of the social welfare programs are spending billions to improve the quality of life of those “less fortunate,” the tax burden on the middle class and wealthy continues to increase.  Even this morning on the NBC show, Good Morning America, Senator Schumer from New York continues to play the class warfare card that the currently proposed Republican budget for 2012 will hurt the middle and working class while exempting the wealthy from their roles in paying on the national debt.

The truth is that the current system of entitlements has created an entire class – and for the sake of argument, this class will be referred to as the non-producing consumer class.  This “class” of citizenry relies on public support for their daily existence while claiming that the American society treats them unfairly.  In a previous position I held with University Housing at Southern Illinois University I was constantly amazed at the number of single parent households that were on some sort of public assistance (food stamps, renters’ assistance, Medicaid, etc) that not only were driving new or fairly new cars, but had satellite television service, plasma large screen televisions, and other perks of “wealthy” living.  Many of those students had a mentality that it was somehow owed to them and during routine housing inspections I was always amused at the stories of how they were financially struggling and how proposed housing increases were going to cause severe economic hardships.  I even had some of these students tell me that they planned to use the benefits of the welfare to work program as long as it allowed by changing majors every two semesters – which would allow them to continue to be eligible for rent assistance, food stamps, financial aid, child daycare, and even health care benefits.

Liberalism promotes the idea that in order to create a “just” society, we must have economic and social justice throughout the nation.  The discussion of economic justice normally includes phrases such as “the wealthy are not paying their fair share of taxes,” or “the wealthy must pay more – their share of the debt;” or even “the wealthy stole our money and tricked us…”  Each semester, a majority of students in my courses voice these and other similar opinions.  There is a general distrust and dislike for the wealthy; additionally, there is a spirit of entitlement among this generation that is unparalleled in American history. For nearly four decades, Americans have been indoctrinated that the government is responsible for providing each citizen with a minimum standard of living.  Social Security, disability programs, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Aid for Families with Dependent Children, and many other entitlement programs have been created to provide for that minimum standard.  Each of those programs has come with not only a high financial cost, but a high personal cost as well.

Overlooking the obvious financial costs, the personal cost of social welfare programs is tremendously high.  First of all, it is prohibitive.  Currently, a family that draws food stamps will find themselves totally cut off the program if their income increases above a certain point (this varies from state to state).  For some, transitioning from unemployment to full time must be reported within days of starting the new job thus ending immediately their eligibility for further assistance.  For many families, this two to three week period of ineligibility before the first paycheck arrives not only causes additional anxiety and friction during the transition to employment, but it also causes those who are less-than-self-motivated to forego the risk of entering into full time employment.

Secondly, it enslaves those who receive the social welfare benefits.  Instead of taking the risk of entering into full time employment, they see security within the welfare system and there they choose to remain.  This has developed into a generational system where there are as many as three to four generations of Americans living off the various welfare programs – referred to as “benefits” or “entitlements” by the various agencies that oversee the administration and eligibility of those programs.  Mention “welfare reform” to this group of people (made up of all ethnicities) and immediately there are cries of how society is not fair and they are owed these benefits.

The overuse and over-promotion of the welfare system has produced a sub-culture dependent upon the national and state government to an extent that was never intended nor imagined.  Anyone that depends upon any level of government or charity for their very survival has now become enslaved by that program.  When the citizenry becomes enslaved to the government, they are indeed owned by the government and are no longer able to exist – economically or politically – outside of the government programs.  For all practical purposes, they are slaves owned by the national government.