“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”

~ Ben Franklin

The ultimate irony is this – in the country purportedly offering the greatest individual liberty in the history of mankind, we are locked in a pitched battle over who we want to take our money and control both the economy and society. To participate in the political process now means adopting a life of non sequitur through a series of paradoxes – that freedom exists in control, that equality can be created through inequality, that stability is created by arbitrary and capricious actions, that intention trumps action, emotion is more important than logic, and that individuals who somehow mysteriously organize their own daily lives can’t voluntarily organize an effective economy and society – but a group of individuals in government can.

“Now that I have a great heroin dealer who has a steady supply of product, I know my life is just going to get better and better. My future looks bright!”

Said no one. Ever.

If I hear another Democrat on the radio or TV say that “Social Security and Medicare are two of the most popular federal programs in the history of history”, I think my face is going to be permanently frozen in a slightly more unattractive version of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”.

No doubt there are people in America who are dependent on these programs – the retired who have no other sources of income, the disabled, the poor who depend on Medicare and the state version if Medicaid for health care expenses – but being locked into a dependency with no other options is a poor indicator for how “popular” something is.

Government dependence has all the symptoms of a raging drug habit:

• Taking a recreational drug causes a surge in levels of dopamine in your brain, which trigger feelings of pleasure. Your brain remembers these feelings and wants them repeated. In government dependence, feelings of pleasure are replaced with feelings of safety, entitlement and justification.
• If you become addicted, the substance takes on the same significance as other survival behaviors, such as eating and drinking. With government dependence, you come to believe that you won’t be able to eat or drink without the dole.
• Changes in your brain interfere with your ability to think clearly, exercise good judgment, control your behavior, and feel normal without drugs. With your higher cognitive functions impaired, you vote for Democrats.
• When you are addicted, the uncontrollable craving to use grows more important than anything else, including family, friends, career, and even your own health and happiness. With government dependence, defense of those programs trump all else, you will lie, cheat, steal, defame, and create massive domestic spying programs or sic the IRS on your enemies because the source of your dependence must be protected at all costs…and that means you vote for Democrats.
• The urge to use is so strong that your mind finds many ways to deny or rationalize the addiction. You may drastically underestimate the quantity of drugs you’re taking, how much it impacts your life, and the level of control you have over your drug use. You don’t care that what you are doing hurts your family and your primary concern is getting the next fix. Unsurprisingly, the same happens with government dependence and your selfish attitude and short term horizon causes you to vote for Democrats.

The fact is that when you are hooked on heroin, your addiction and your dealer control your life. When you are hooked on the federal dole, your addiction and your Congressman controls your life. There is no such thing as a munificent and benevolent heroin dealer any more than there is a munificent and benevolent government.

Governments, like heroin dealers, only care about their clientele to the extent they are a source for income, the only thing they care about are repeat customers with money to spend (or tax). They are in the business to feed your addiction and take your money until you die and if you do, no skin off their noses, there are more addicts/taxpayers out there…

I don’t blame people for taking advantage of the very limited safe harbor that Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid provide – but I do blame the dealer, the federal government, for feeding their dependency. For too long the politicians have been hiding the fact that they have stripped the family home and sold everything of value in the house – the car, the silverware, the jewelry and the TV – to continue to fund America’s addiction. They have even stooped to the equivalent of stealing out of our kids’ piggy banks through creating a mountain of debt and unfunded liabilities that will be a significant burden on future generations.

The political right is always pilloried by the political left for trying to stop the growing welfare state from destroying everything – including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – for everybody, the poor included. My view is that what we are doing is trying to prevent them from killing the goose that lays the golden eggs – when the producers are gone, who pays?

Eating the rich is a one-time only banquet. Then the check comes.

I have had a bit of experience with a family member gripped in the claws of addiction and I can tell you from experience, all the support, concern, care and love in the world will not change an addicts heart or mind until they decide to make that change themselves.

Maybe it is time for Americans on the federal dole and the Democrats who love their votes to do a little introspection to their addiction and see what it is doing to their family, the rest of America and our future generations.