Entitlements

My husband said to me the other day that he was having a hard time being a Democrat.  It’s not like he was going to register as a Republican or anything, but he was tired of being in a party that was associated with giving handouts.  He and a neighbor were talking about it the other day and both of them were fed up with working hard and getting nothing and seeing others doing nothing and getting so much.  To some extent I agree, but I agree to the point that something needs to be done with the abuses going on.  I believe that if these abuses were taken care of, that a measure of the budget would be taken care of too.

The Wall Street Journal wrote an article about this issue and made some very interesting points.  Their main premise was that entitlements are corrupting this country and have grown significantly over the last twenty five years.  In addition, even though Democrats have been the party associated with entitlements in actuality, according to the WSJ article, it is Republicans who have really jacked up the amount distributed.

What is monumentally new about the American state today is the vast empire of entitlement payments that it protects, manages and finances. Within living memory, the federal government has become an entitlements machine. As a day-to-day operation, it devotes more attention and resources to the public transfer of money, goods and services to individual citizens than to any other objective, spending more than for all other ends combined.

The argument can be made that with today’s economy more and more are deserving of things like food stamps.  It is true that there are more people on food stamps primarily because they have been unable to find a job.  However, entitlements are not just programs for the poor.  Medicare and Social Security are also part of that pot of money, and to me seniors are deserving of it because they have put into the system all those years and should be permitted to take from it.  My issues, like my husband’s issue is the one where generations have lived on handouts and are a leach on society rather than a contributor. 

I personally don’t have issue with paying taxes to help invest in our schools, provide needed infrastructure, and help those who are less fortunate.  But I do have issues with handing over my hard earned dollars to give to someone who is abusing the system and who are making a living off me. In my opinion the abuses to the program is what is in serious need of work rather than the actual amount of money going out.