Obama, Socialism and the Decline of Personal Responsibility

On the February 16, 2009, cover of Newsweek was the statement, "We Are All Socialists Now." The subtitle went on to say, "The Perils and Promise of the New Era of Big Government."

The gist of the article, from the online version of the magazine,was that the United States is headed in the direction that Europe has already traveled. Newsweek noted that 10 years ago, U. S. government spending was 34.3% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) compared with 48.2% in Europe. Next year, U.S. government spending is expected to grow to 39.9% of GDP compared with an anticipated 47.1% in Europe. The gap between the two economies is narrowing.

What's the problem? The problem is that a large percent of European government spending goes toward the entitlements that European citizens have been given and now expect. No matter that some European governments are verging on the edge of financial collapse. For example, says Mark Steyn in his book, America Alone (See reference information below), by 2040, "projected public pensions liabilities are expected to rise to about 6.8% of GDP." In Greece, continues Steyn, the figure will be 25%. (Page 44) If the current trends continue in the United States, however, we can expect the percentage of government spending to rise in the coming decades.

The likely voter's reaction to the growing crisis? "I've got mine and I don't really care about the generations after me who will have to pay for it." That is basically the reaction of voters in European countries. When the government promises "womb to grave" care, would you expect any other reaction?

Here are some sobering factors for U. S. citizens to consider:

First, the birthrate decline in the United States means that we are barely able to maintain our current population numbers. If the birthrate declines--as it probably will--we will have a declining population trying to pay more increasing benefits.

Second, legalized abortion has had an adverse affect on the population as a whole by 30 to 40 million people or more, not to mention the offspring that would have resulted from the aborted babies. Those aborted persons could have grown up to become working taxpayers. When I mentioned that a couple of years to someone else, I got the answer, "Well, those people probably would have been lower class people anyway and not really a factor in the economy." Aside from the underlying class bias, it simply is not true that people from humble beginnings are destined to remain in a so-called lower class environment.

Third, the population is aging, which means that there will be more older people receiving Social Security and Medicare benefits, and a relatively smaller number of people working and paying taxes to support those and other benefits.

Fourth, there is a growing consensus among many people that government is the first place to go when people get in trouble. Never mind that our nation was built on the concept of individual responsibility and hard work. Never mind that government is too often part of the problem rather than the solution. Once government is given the role of meeting our needs, it becomes increasingly difficult for society to go back to how things used to be.

Steyn quotes former President Gerald Ford who used to tell conservative audiences, "A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have." Steyn adds that there is an intermediate stage: a government big enough to give you everything you want isn't big enough to get you give any of it back." (Page 44)

Personally, I'm at the stage of life where I'm in almost total retirement and am receiving the benefits I paid for through my taxes. I am concerned, however, about the future and what it holds for my children and potential grandchildren. The current administration has already committed future generations to high taxes, and I suspect that our leaders have hardly gotten a good start.

Despite the good things Franklin Delano Roosevelt did in trying to combat the Great Depression, he didn't do the United States any favors by creating and encouraging a class of people who depend on government to be not only a safety net, but to be a feeding trough. The more government gives, the less incentive there is for people to be responsible or to work hard to earn more money.

Our current administration under President Obama is not doing our nation any favors either as indicated by the direction of the bailouts he has administered and by his promises for future projects--universal health care, for example. [Granted that the current bailouts began under President George W. Bush, but President Obama seems determined to push governmental socialism to new heights.] The current bailouts of mortgage holders and financially unstable corporations are pushing us further in a potentially disastrous direction.

Government officials may deny that we are becoming socialists, but if "it smells like socialism, tastes like socialism, and acts like socialism," we're just kidding ourselves to call it anything else.

Sources:

www.newsweek.com/id/183663

Mark Steyn, America Alone (Washington, D. C.: Regnery Publishing, 2006)