Obama will get re-elected because we are selfish

This nation, a nation founded on the ideals of individual liberty and a capitalist economic system, no longer celebrates either individual liberty or capitalism. Today we are increasingly dependent on government for our standard of living and much less reliant on ourselves.

There are several sets of data that point to this historic tipping point:

First, the share of Americans’ incomes from government benefits has gone from eight percent in 1969 to 18 percent today. In Jackson County, it’s even higher at 20.4 percent, more than double what it was here in 1969.

Today, one-fifth of our local income comes from government entitlement programs — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. It amounts to $5,874 per person in Jackson County.

Nearly half of all Americans now live in a household where someone receives government benefits. That’s up from 38 percent of households in 1998, according to a New York Times article.

That growth in entitlements isn’t because there are more poor people now; it’s because the government has redefined the rules to make more people eligible for handouts. Once designed as a safety net for the poor, government programs now cater to the middle class.

And efforts to curtail that growth in benefits often fail. In Florida, a move to have those receiving welfare benefits pass a drug test has run into a storm. Critics say that drug abuse is just another kind of “disease” and that addicts shouldn’t be denied welfare because of their addiction. Really?

And any talk of reforming Social Security or Medicare gets the ire up of elderly voters who are all too willing to pass this nation’s debt down to their children and grandchildren so that they don’t have to give up any of their current government entitlements.

The second indicator that the nation has reached a tipping point is that nearly half of our citizens don’t pay any federal income taxes. The top 10 percent of taxpayers pay 70 percent of the taxes. With the earned income credit, some people actually get back more from the government than they paid in taxes. That’s welfare, but don’t say that too loud. Those getting that check don’t see it that way. They “earned” it (“earned income tax credit” was a clever political title to make people think they are somehow entitled to money they never earned.)

Although there is a lot of rhetoric from President Obama about how unfair taxes are and that “the rich” should pay more, the truth is that those who work and produce in the nation already pay far more than their share. The bottom 50 percent of federal income taxpayers paid only a rate of 1.8 percent in federal taxes while the top one percent paid a rate of 24 percent in taxes. How the heck is that “unfair?”

But this isn’t just a financial issue. Those who pay no federal taxes are socially and culturally disconnected from the nation in which they live. They have no stake in its actions, no shared responsibility to see that the nation succeeds. Since they don’t pay taxes, but get large government-provided benefits, they see no need to change anything unless it means they will personally get more. They are no longer citizens, but rather wards of the state with a vote to keep the money flowing. (Just look at Greece where the mentality of government dependence is being played out with violence in the street as the government tries to avoid default by making entitlement cuts.)

The final indicator that the nation has reached a tipping point is that governments have grown so large and pervasive it affects just about every family. From the federal government down to local governments, a lot of people are directly employed by government agencies or have a family member who works for government.

So when anyone talks about cutting back government spending, that bites just about everyone. Nobody wants to cut back in government because a spouse or child or parent might be affected.

And then there’s the reality that those who work for government get higher pay and better benefits than the average person in the private sector and that government employees have much more job security.

Just look at nearby Athens-Clarke County where the university system employs a large number of people. Even during the depths of the recession, the unemployment rate in Athens-Clarke was among the state’s lowest because government employees were, by and large, unaffected. While the private sector took a huge hit, most government employees were sheltered and kept their high salaries and gold-plated benefits.

It’s a modern day plantation system with government elites living off the labor of private sector slaves.

What we have today is the creation of a perfect storm: More people are getting government benefits than ever before; fewer people are paying taxes to support those benefits; and government employees have become an elite class of protected citizens who are immune from economic reality.

And that’s why President Obama, the leading voice for more and bigger government, will be re-elected. Too many people are now dependent on government and they will vote for those who promise to keep the money flowing regardless of how it affects the country.

This is the great weakness of a democracy. Once a majority of voters get dependent on government, that majority will never vote for anyone who seeks to cut the handouts — they will always vote in their own self-interest.

But someday soon, this system will implode and our children and grandchildren will pay a very high price for our generation’s selfishness.

Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspapers. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.