A Country Boy Can Survive...Off You & Me!

[stony ground]

We already have numerous government programs to "help the poor"...welfare, food stamps, WIC, medicaid...which begs the question: have these program reduced poverty in this country? In sheer numbers, no they have not, but I guess you could say that they have made poverty more bearable and less of an indignity. The next question is: why is it the role of government to make poor people more comfortable?

The welfare state is socialism "light", it takes money from the productive class and gives it to the non-prodcutive class...essentially buying the votes of the poor by paying them to remain non-productive. Rendering unto "caesar" (what an incredibly apt metaphor for this administration, btw) means the government collecting revenues necessary for the functions of the state. It does not mean render unto caesar so that he can hand it out to buy votes.

Government programs are not the answer to poverty in the inner city, and they will not be the answer to poverty in rural areas. The real answer to the problem is job creation, and the best thing government can do in that arena is try not to screw it up. Taxation and regulation suppress job growth, thus creating more unemployment and poverty, not less.

And btw, all of this comes from someone who grew up as one of those "rural poor", I grew up in an old single-wide mobile home out in the sticks of the rural South. I was not taught to wait for a handout, I was taught the only way to change my situation was to bust my hump and try for a better life. So I did. If I can do it...