The usual diatribe barking about the so called welfare system as if a free fall into total barbarism is a better choice.
We do not get it completely right. But we are much closer than any historic alternative. Again government prints money, spreads it around as best it can, then taxes it back in order to produce real demand. by using banks to lend it out to best operators we create contracts which must be honored with way more money than originally lent. this also produces demand.
In this scenario, it makes best practise to ensure the base, representing today perhaps even ten percent of the population is well taken care off because everyone else will do better. The natural multiplyer starts with the base. A base of zero produces the Great Depression. arguing for zero is brain dead.
The Evil Within, Part 4: The Welfare State
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/the-evil-within-part-4-the-welfare-state/
The welfare-state way of life has become such a normalized and accepted part of America’s governmental system that Americans have come to see it as an essential aspect of the “free” society in which they have been born and raised and in which they live. In actuality, the welfare-state system that has been grafted onto America’s original federal governmental structure is one of evil’s greatest triumphs, not only with respect to the seemingly permanent nature of this system but, more importantly, because of the overwhelming support of people who hew to religious principles.
The welfare-state system is based on a simple principle: Use the federal government’s power to tax to take money from one group of people and give the money to another group of people. It is an ingenious system from the standpoint of evil because it creates the appearance that people are helping people. The welfare state, Americans are told, reflects how good, caring, and compassionate they are. By simply living in the United States as American citizens — and, even better, participating actively in the political process by voting — Americans are fulfilling what Jesus called God’s second-greatest commandment — “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
There is one great big problem with this system, however: It is founded on force. The payment of taxes is not voluntary. Refuse to pay your taxes and you will soon find yourself in a federal prison, perhaps for the rest of your life. The incarceration of a noted tax resister named Irwin Schiff comes to mind. When he got terminal cancer and asked for a mercy release from prison so that he could die among his family, federal officials said no. He was forced to die in prison for having committed the cardinal sin of refusing to pay his income taxes.
Thus, the welfare-state system is not a voluntary system. It is a system that coerces people to care for others. That is precisely the opposite of God’s system, which is based on the choices that people willingly make in the exercise of free will, which is the great gift that God has bestowed on every human being.
In other words, under God’s system, people have a choice as to whether to help others or not. They can choose to help someone in need, or they can refuse to do so. That’s what genuine free will is all about — the right to say either yes or no. God entrusted mankind with that enormous range of freedom. Under God’s system, no one is forced to care for another person. The choice is always voluntary.
That’s where conscience, which is another God-given gift, comes into play. When people are faced with choices on whether to help another person, they begin to exercise their consciences. Should I help that person or not? To what extent should I help him? For how long should I help him? With everyone exercising his conscience on a regular basis, the overall sense of morality in society tends to rise.
But keep in mind that under God’s system, people always have the right to say no. They have the right to turn their backs on their neighbors, their parents, their family members, the poor, the needy, their churches, and everyone else. That’s what genuine freedom and free will are all about.
God’s “mistake”
Evil has essentially convinced people that God made a mistake. He should have never entrusted people with so much freedom. If He had known that so many people would exercise their free will in a bad direction, He never would have entrusted them with such a wide range of freedom.
Thus, they say, the purpose of the welfare state is to correct God’s “mistake” by ensuring that everyone helps others. In this way, there is 100 percent participation on the part of the citizenry. Most everyone pays taxes, and even if they don’t, they live under a welfare-state system that applies to everyone. Under a welfare state, every citizen helps others, whether he wants to or not.
In the process, people have come to believe that the welfare state is fulfilling God’s sacred commandment about loving one’s neighbor. Actually, however, it’s the opposite. The welfare state denigrates God’s great gift of free will by destroying it. Remember: What matters under God’s system is that people have the right to choose, one way or another. The welfare state destroys that right of freedom of choice.
The welfare state is often described as a “safety net.” It is intended to help people who “fall through the cracks” because people chose not to help them out. In other words, it serves to correct the “imperfections” of God’s system of free will.
But God doesn’t make mistakes, and His system does not need “corrections” from the government, especially “corrections” that use coercion to destroy free will. God knew precisely what He was doing when He vested man with free will. He understood fully the trust He was placing in human beings.
Social Security
The crown jewel of America’s welfare state is Social Security, a socialist system that originated among socialists in Germany in the latter part of the 19th century. It is important to note that Social Security formed no part of American society when the Constitution created the federal government. Moreover, Americans lived for more than 150 years without this socialist program. Social Security wasn’t grafted onto America’s federal governmental system until the 1930s, under the regime of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Many Americans have convinced themselves that Social Security is a forced savings and retirement program, one in which the federal government taxes people, puts their money into an interest-bearing account, and then gives them their money back with interest when they reach the age of 65.
That belief is entirely self-delusion. In reality, Social Security is no different from any other welfare program. It is based on taxing the young and productive and giving the money to the elderly. In other words, no one’s money is taxed and put into an interest-bearing account. The money is spent almost immediately after the tax revenue hits the government’s coffers.
Heaven help anyone who objects to this crown jewel of American socialism. He will be reviled and condemned for being selfish and self-centered and for hating the poor, needy, and disadvantaged. After all, who can object to helping people in their last stage of life, especially if they have no savings?
Moreover, let’s not forget another of God’s sacred commandments: Thou shalt honor thy mother and father. Thus, Social Security, people are told, taxes children and gives the money to their parents and grandparents. Who can object to that?
Anyone who values God’s great gift of free will can — and should — object to it. Again, under principles of free will, people have the right to decide for themselves whether to honor their mother and father. They have the right to decide whether to help aging parents and grandparents with financial assistance, medical care, personal expenses, and everything else. As part of that process, they have the right to say no — to refuse any help whatsoever.
That’s what God’s gift of free will is all about — the right to say either yes or no. By forcing young people to care for seniors, Caesar’s use of coercion with respect to Social Security denigrates and destroys God’s gift of free will.
Social Security also tends to stultify conscience, which is another of God’s great gifts to mankind. By forcing everyone to participate in this socialist system and other welfare-state programs, people have less need to exercise conscience. They essentially render their conscience to Caesar, dutifully pay their taxes, and convince themselves that they are helping the poor, needy, and disadvantaged.
There is another factor to consider: When children voluntarily help parents in need, there is tremendous meaning to such help, especially in terms of love that children have for their parents. Aging parents give children the opportunity to say “thank you” for all that parents did in raising them and giving them a start in life. Helping a gravely ill or dying parent, for example, can be a deeply fulfilling experience.
Not so with Social Security, however. There is no deep meaning involved with payment of taxes that are then converted into a Social Security payment sent by Caesar to one’s parents.
End evil and restore faith
The question naturally arises: What should be done with Social Security? After all, many seniors are dependent on the money. Some seniors have no family, or they have family who wouldn’t help them out.
There is one — and only one — approach that one can take when it comes to evil: End it, immediately. Evil is never necessary. God does not need evil — or the continuation of evil. God’s system is based totally on the voluntary choices that come with free will.
Obviously, this requires the restoration of faith in God’s system — a faith that has been severely damaged by American socialism. Ending evil immediately will not result in catastrophe, as so many have been taught to believe. Most children would help their parents, especially since they now will have all that money that is being taxed from them to fund the welfare state. For those cases where there is no family, or where family members will not help, there are friends, relatives, neighbors, church groups, and foundations. In fact, one can easily imagine someone forming “The Foundation for Former Social Security Recipients,” which would undoubtedly be generously funded by donations.
All that the eradication of evil requires is a restoration of faith in God and in God’s system of free will. Is that easy? Of course not, especially given the damage that the welfare state has done to faith in God and faith in God’s gift of free will.
Medicare and Medicaid
These principles apply, of course, across the board — to all welfare-state programs — Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, corporate bailouts, farm subsidies, and all the rest. They are all based on the coercive apparatus of Caesar. Evil justifies all of them by employing God’s commandments, which makes the evil even worse.
Medicare and Medicaid are instructive in this regard. I grew up in the 1950s in Laredo, Texas, which is located on the U.S.-Mexico border. Laredo was one of the poorest cities in the United States. This was before Medicare and Medicaid were adopted in the 1960s.
Hardly anyone had medical insurance. That’s because they didn’t need it. Healthcare costs were low and stable. Going to the doctor was like going to the grocery store. Then along came Medicare and Medicaid and healthcare costs began soaring through the roof. The entire healthcare industry fell into perpetual chaos.
But people don’t want to recognize that the root cause of America’s decades-long, ongoing, never-ending, perpetual healthcare crisis is the evil cancer of healthcare socialism that has been grafted onto the body politic. Most everyone remains convinced that evil can be made to work if only the right reform will be discovered.
But the right reform will never be discovered because evil will never be made to work. Socialism is an inherently defective system.
Before Medicare and Medicaid, doctors’ offices in Laredo were filled every day, mostly with poor people — people who couldn’t pay the doctor. The doctors knew that. Nonetheless, they never turned away anyone. They felt that it was their moral and ethical duty to treat everyone, including the poor. They did so willingly — as an exercise of free will. No one forced them to do so. Nonetheless, the doctors were among the wealthiest people in town. The money that doctors received from people who could pay was more than sufficient to compensate for those who couldn’t pay.
That’s the faith that most Americans have lost — the faith in freedom, free will, and free markets. That’s what the evil of socialism has done to Americans.
There is no Medicare or Medicaid for dental work. Before he retired, my dentist got together with other dentists and provided free dental care to the poor on one day per week, on a rotating basis. No one forced them to do so. It was entirely voluntary. I’ll bet that if one did a survey of dentists across America, it would reveal that many, if not most, dentists provide some degree of free dental care to the poor even though no one forces them to do so.
Socialism has proven to be the bane of mankind. Not only has it destroyed economic liberty, it has also impoverished people, both economically and spiritually. Worst of all, it has enabled evil to triumph in America, especially with the ardent support of believers in God.
