Common Sense Magazine

Written by: Brian Peotter

You give a man a fish, he eats for a day. You teach him to fish, and he eats every day. This is a saying every American knows and takes for granted. However, do we practice it ourselves? The majority of Americans support social security, Medicare, and countless other entitlement programs. Having compassion towards the homeless, or making sure that you have a safety net if you need one are both understandable. Each in their own respect is very admirable and responsible. Without a doubt it is easier to have the government do things for you to make sure you are happier and healthier but every single adult out there knows the easy way is almost never the right way. If you disagree, believe here are a few examples: cheating in school versus studying, stealing money versus earning it, et cetera. It is understandable why people want entitlements and why people can even fear not having them. It is just that from a strictly money oriented point of view it simply makes no sense to have entitlements.

Back to the fish analogy, when the government gives out money in form of medicine, food, rent, the government is taking from the rich and giving to the poor. Some people may want the government to be Robin Hood, but this means those who receive entitlements have zero incentive to get back on their feet and earn their keep. Those in America that marvel at European social programs are failing to see the correlation to the double digit unemployment rates. Regardless of what anyone argues it is an extremely obvious fact that more social programs equate to more unemployed workers.

The usual argument that entitlement programs got us out of the Great Depression is a blatant fallacy. The single reason for the United States to come out of the Great Depression was World War Two. This claim can be substantiated by looking at the estimated GDP over that time period. It is also very important to remember that entitlements didn’t exist to a large extent for over a century and Americans were very prosperous. Who did the poor and the sick go to then? The truth is that there weren’t more people on the streets but in fact private organizations took in and fed those in need and those who were poor did all they could to get a job to feed themselves and their families. The idea of being dependent on the government used to make grown men sick to their stomach. When the government became Robin Hood it began a trend which continues today in that Americans are beginning to expect to get something they think they deserve with no other explanation than that they believe it’s their “right”.

One can argue about government all they like but one thing that cannot stand are blatant misinterpretations of the founders and the constitution. I also find the truths to be self evident and believe in the pursuit of happiness, however I would never say that the government should have anything to do with making any citizen happy. The job of government under the constitution was to make sure citizens would always be able to make themselves happy if that’s what they wanted. That might seem like a contradiction but it is actually a very real distinction. The founders never wanted anyone to rely on the government for happiness, money, help, but instead preferred the government have as little power as possible.

At the end of it all government is inherently good at being bad with money. Put a dollar in the way of the IRS and you as a taxpayer will be lucky to see half that back as a return. In contrast private organizations such as churches and businesses that cut costs and rely on strict efficiency to accomplish goals, government has no fiscal incentive to responsibility. Government is a necessary evil for such things as the populace could never do itself such as infrastructure and the armed forces but when I can actually save up money for a rainy day and pay for my hospital care or retirement, and then the government does not belong there. It is easy to be compassionate and feel good about yourself, but when you see what social programs are doing to our psyche and to our countries billfold, it is hard to see entitlement programs as anything other than extreme recklessness.