Never Enough: William Voegeli on America’s Limitless Welfare State
by Reason TV“The denial of the possibility that there is an endpoint [to the welfare state] is crucial to the liberal enterprise,” says Dr. William Voegeli, author of the new book, Never Enough: America’s Limitless Welfare State and a visiting scholar at Claremont McKenna College’s Henry Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom in the Modern World.
In this Reason.tv interview, Voegeli traces recent federal government expansions to President Franklin Roosevelt’s introduction of a “second Bill of Rights” that included the right to housing, education, and medical care.
Approximately 8.30.
Interview by Sam Corcos; shot by Hawk Jensen; edited by Paul Detrick.
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84 Comments
The United States Military is always hiring.
I do not understand why there are so many people using the Welfare System when the Nation has 2 Wars going on and the Military keeps sending the same Troops back into the fight because Enlistments are down.
People get hungry enough they will sign right up
Seems like she is already broken.
Then they would have to sacrifice. No Jerry Springer or Judge Judy.
Why fight when you can food stamps and extended jobless benefits and according to some people when Obama is elected, "I won’t have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage."
There was, and is, no need to for a second bill of rights. All those rights are already found within a right we all have to being with, Though it was removed a longtime ago. In what is called the right to contract, we all have a right to these things in the scope of pursuit of happiness, what we don't have is a right to make someone else pay for them.
The solution is an end to foolish adherence to case law and a revival of adhering to the Supreme Law itself. The Constitution conveys the truth and we must abide by it. That a court said something can only matter so much. Example: Commerce Clause.
People are not states. Interstate Commerce is a fabrication. Feds have no true authority over two party contracts. If we regain that lost liberty, the welfare state will crumble as the unconstitutional bungling it has always been. Then, charity, willing charity, will rise again as the honorable endeavor that it has always been.
Gee, no free cable, internet, wide screen HD tv's…..taxi service to my medical appointments…..why is the US so cruel and racist.
Oh and I forgot, free cell phones.
This crap has to stop, the sooner the better.
Why watch when they can live it live?
Judge Judy? The Military has its own Justice System.
Jerry Springer? I've seen things in the Military that would make Jerry Springer blush and start to stutter.
If liberals believe there is no danger to reckless deficit spending, endless bailouts and monumental debt then why not give every American family $1 million dollars instead? Why give trillions to Wall Street firms and unions instead of working families? The same reason we cannot give every American family $1 million is the same reason we cannot spend trillions to bailout failed companies and overbloated/overpaid unions: it will lead to the financial ruin which we find ourselves in.
Putting a community organizer in charge of the economy is like making your gardner top neurosurgeon at UCLA medical. The results are not surprising, the only thing surprising is that anyone believed an affirmative action street agitating community organizer would have been anything but an abysmal failure as President.
Ain't that the truth, never an end to welfare just a perpetual argument for more entitlements, it is a religion.
Obama: "Individual salvation depends on collective salvation" BLT
The Military has Housing, Mess Halls, and, Troops just pull up to the POL Point, and gas up that Tactical Vehicle free of charge.
The 11-12% poverty rate is misleading by the left because it's not the same people who are entrenched in poverty at all times. Most of the people in the poverty category are people moving in and out of the category at different times of their lives. Most are upwardly mobile due to the free market system.
People are classified poor when they go to college and again when they enter retirement age and incomes are low. But there is only 3-5% that are permanently poor due to the disabled, criminal class, and those that typically dropped out and never gave themselves a chance. Most of the poor are not really "poor" but represent socioeconomic life cycles. Slavish devotion to this class by the left only takes away opportunity for the upwardly mobile and creates more poor people.
.
A socialist once seriously told me that the only problem with medicare and social security was that they didn't have enough funding. Those are people who won't wake up until you bash them over the head with a club… and maybe not even then. Sigh….
Just tell them they have been cast in a Reality TV show…
It's what people don't understand about capitalism, that just because 10% of the population is "poor" doesn't mean it's always the SAME 10%. Thomas Sowell has done lots of good work with this.
As for those who claim that social mobility is decreasing, I have no doubt they're right, but I think it's because of the increased amount of welfare, redistribution and taxation that's been going on for the last 40 years, not because of capitalism.
The socialist was correct.
Maj Gen Jerry R Curry(Ret.) : Obama- America Is Too Important To Be Played With By Anybody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8-FygIOsRo
There are allways jobs for people who are WILLING to work. They may not be great paying jobs, Heck just ask a few million illegal aliens. They dont seem to have trouble finding work.
In the 1980s I never had trouble finding farm work while lots of guys I knew sat around and complained that there were no jobs to be had. I had to work my butt off but at least I was not on well fare.
As soon as i was old enough I joined the ARMY and now 22 tears later I am getting ready to retire from it and I will have another job lined up before I get out.
So dont tell me there are NO jobs. Swallow your pride and get off your ass and find something. Even flipping burgers is better than welfare
I'm sixty-five and just got a job! I really don't need to work, just feel the need to get out a bit more. It's an entry level job in a business I'm interested in (dog grooming) and I'll get to see something different than what I saw in my forty years in the medical field. Now, if a sixty-five year old grandma can get a job…
"If I take care of him, he's gonna take care of me"
Here in Massachusetts we buy cars for welfare recipients to get around in. Bet GM gets that contract, too!
Milton Friedman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A
A New American Prosperity that will lead to a robust economic recovery and economic boom. Here are the top five solutions we can implement now to create jobs and help small businesses in America:
1. Cut corporate taxes: America suffers from the second highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, with a federal rate of 35 percent, and states pushing it close to 40 percent. We should restore America’s competitiveness in the world by reducing the federal business tax rate to match Ireland’s rate of 12.5 percent.
2. Eliminate the capital gains tax: rather than increase capital gains tax rates by 66 percent as Democrats propose, we should match China’s pro-jobs policies and abolish capital gains taxes altogether, both for individuals and corporations.
3. Cut federal payroll taxes: to alleviate the unemployment crisis, we should cut federal payroll taxes by 50 percent for two years, providing powerful, immediate relief to small businesses that create the most jobs.
4. Abolish the death tax: instead of reinstating the death tax with a 45 percent rate, as Obama and the Democrats want, we can create hundreds of thousands of new jobs by abolishing the death tax altogether.
5. Allow business expensing: we should provide for immediate expensing for 100 percent of new equipment purchases by businesses, stimulating investment in new, productive technologies.
Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Government + Liberty = Constant. More of one means less of the other. It's that simple.
Both of my parents went back to college and got nursing degrees while I was still in high school and college. Now they both teach nursing at their local community college, when they should be retired.
Yep, if a person wants to work…they can find it!
We MUST set priorities and fund the main ones well and when the money is gone…oh, well!
Off Topic: When you're holding a hammer…love this tune!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfH46DTAkxo&fe...
At this point, the focus of the discussion must change. We are past the point of no return. Even if republicans take back Congress in November, a large number of them will be RINO's who won't do what needs to be done. Even then, it's likely too late.
So now we must focus on what happens WHEN we go bankrupt as a nation and globally. I've read A LOT of economists, and all say things like "before it's too late", ""or we'll be bankrupt as a country", etc. etc. Guess what. We're there. Our debt is 2.5 times the GLOBAL economy. How do you re-pay that? It's impossible. So what happens? mad Max "Road Warrior" like scenario? Weimar Republic? Zimbawe? Status Quo as the global economy will fall with us? If the global economy defaults, is it business as usual, just like all boats sinking at low tide?
I don't know the answer. Reading a lot of economists taught me that they don't know either. I think it's why guns and ammo have been selling at record levels. Peter Schiff's new book suggest moving abroad in chapter 11 (12?). I have already looked into buying property over seas.
What about domestically? Civil War 2? Revolution 2? Secession? Scary times.
The Founders did that with what is called enumerated powers. The priorities are set, they just have to be honored.
-Welfare & extended Unemployment benefits are a Socialist Govt's way of building a Total Dictatorship.Welfare recipients are SLAVES! to the Govt. They have to vote Democrat to keep the checks coming!They have NO FREEDOM.
-We working class demand freedom.We support ourselves,& gladly, those who are less fortunate.This is why we need to Prosecute each member of Obama Admin. for High Crimes against U.S! Hold them accountable for,violations of Office, Passing incomplete, unwanted Legislation in the dead of night on Christmas Eve against a TELEVISED protesting Majority of working Americans!
- Mr.Issa, please prepare the subpoenas. We expect JUSTICE! Each member of Obama Admin needs to be tried:Abuse of Power, Failure uphold OATH of Office, Deriliction of Duty, treason. Deliberately REFUSING to enforce our "Federal Immigration Law!" which states that if you are here ILLEGALLY, you must be deported Stat!
Since Obama not only CONSISTENTLY REFUSES to enforce that Fed Law, but has sued a State for doing do, Obama Admin must be held accountable for the blood of those innocents that have been murdered. – WE ARE NOT SAFE! Obama has deliberately KEPT our Borders OPEN! Which ILLEGALS are Terrorists? Murderers? Rapists? Bombers? Mexicans carry Drug-Resistant TB! We demand a Trial!
Good fiscal advice.
Great tune thanks for sharing.
Issa is a fighter, I have high hopes for him when the Republicans take back control from the leftwing fascists.
And what will be your excuse when the federal government takes 100% of our money to fund these programs, and they still don't work?
"Swallow your pride and get off your ass "
I think it is more of find your pride and get of your ass and work
Shame is dead. Just gimme mine.
The coach that wrote that tune got fired for it!
A great example of a messed up Welfare State is New York. Listen to what is going on: – Mayor Bloomberg has formed a mis-leadingly named coalition: – "Partnership for a New American Economy" Really? –
The members or this coalition are Big Biz Exec$. & like minded Mayors. (Check Wikipedia) One of the main goals of Bloomberg's coalition is to grant AMNESTY, & maybe ObamaCare to ILLEGALS! Great, just what New York needs!
to be PACKED to the gills with UNKNOWN, UNSCREENED Illegals on Welfare, also known as permanent Democrat Voters! They'll continue loitering around NY, making bombs, driving the Crime rate up even further.
Imagine the Opposite- If Mayor Bloomberg did his job, & enforced our "Federal Immigration Law" and deported all of the ILLEGALS packed into NY, the Crime rate would drop! the loitering would drop! the Health,Ed. & Welfare systems would actually be available to LEGAL CITIZENS OF THE US AND NY!
Only productive working people would be left, walking the streets. Wow I see the Sunshine and lightness and airy environment or the new NY already! imo,
Vote the Bloombergs, Schumers, Gilebrands, and all Dems out of NY!
Now, that is just plain un-American.
The Second American Revolution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKFKGrmsBDk&fe....
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Take Our Freedom Back! by Band of Patriots http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP-IM7maxbI&fe...
FDR's Second Bill of Rights (with my additional comments in parentheses):
The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation; (forced on the employer)
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation; (wage rate forced upon the employer by the fed gov't)
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living; (subsidized by the tax payer instead of the free market)
The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad; (as regulated by the federal government)
The right of every family to a decent home; (funded and built and/or paid for by someone else)
(Continued)
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health; (paid for by someone else)
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
The right to a good education. (paid for by someone else)
There is very little of personal accountability in FDR's Second Bill of Rights. It's a nice idea, but it's a clear case of taking from those who work for their living and giving to those who do not. Certainly, there are those who genuinely need help and it should be freely given, but there are so many more who are, quite simply, lazy, and would rather get a handout than earn their own way.
Progressives don't care this is unlimited because the consensus is welfare is NOT about solving a problem but about maintenance. if you listen to progressives talk about this issue its always the same thing – maintenance.
So they don't care if there is a solution, all they care about is simply maintaining the poor.
I saw a video on FOX news where about 35000 people showed up to file for section 8 housing. In the video, all were dressed well and very clean, most were on cell phones, and most were fat as hell. If you can't pay for a house, you don't need nice clothes, a cell phone, and you should be skinny. I will soon refuse to pay for these scumbags whom live just as well or better than I do, and I own my own business and bust my ass everyday. The govt is turning the taxpayers into slaves!
I hope so. It's good to hear that. How much injustice and marxism can America take.
I didn't know that…..just damn!
Reminds me of a drug addiction than a religion.
We should do as Israel does. Mandatory military service when you come of age. Teaches you some patience, gives you a skill, gives you focus, and allows you to put something into the kitty for all that you take out (i.e., freedoms, not welfare)
Pretty much.
I like the cut of your jib, UrinalMint.
Sooner or later you DO run out of other people's money. No matter how many fake dollars the state prints (and thereby steals), sooner or later the money itself becomes worthless. But between the public employee unions, myriads of overpaid bureaucrat managers, crony capitalists, and the half the country who doesn't pay income taxes just who is going to say "Enough"?
Maybe when we decide that people who don't pay taxes have no right to vote?
As an ER doc, I see abuse of the system every day. People show up and are obviously healthy yet are not working. They have no health problems, they have no medications that they take, and they have no family doc. Yet they are on disability. I have examined them and they are healthy.
People are lazy and would rather get their couple hundred bucks a month to spend on cigarettes and then go to the doc for a free prescription for tylenol (about a buck at the local Dollar Store). I DO NOT write prescriptions for over-the-counter meds for these people. And they get pissed about it. I merely point out that they need to give up a couple packs of cigarettes and buy the stuff they should have at home anyway.
If the American taxpayer had any clue how much patient fraud was going on they would be amazed.
Combat is the ultimate reality.
As a bonus, there would be cast rotations all the time.
Welfare is nothing but vote buying. That's all its ever been. Democrats want more and more welfare to buy more and more votes. They are socialist promoting a socialist state, they actually WANT to create MORE DEBT because the sooner the system fails under the weight of the debt, the sooner they think they will have their Utopian state.
Just another case of that redistribution of wealth thingy. If the progressives have their way, we will all be riding bicycles(if you can afford one),
November will tell us if we have tipped into a nation of Pauls just waiting for the spoils of robbing ever dwindling Peters….
I work with hard core, long term unemployed. Many drop-outs. Many with minimal literacy and little hope for improvement. Probably fetal alcohol syndrome. They can't enlist. They can't pass the tests and they aren't capable, imo of making good soldiers.
You actually, I'm sure without meaning to, insult the military by assuming the welfare states lifetime residents belong in their ranks.
He is still blaming Bush #43:
http://therealrevo.com/blog/?p=31158
He is still blaming Bush #43:
http://therealrevo.com/blog/?p=31158
And when I was a teacher, I worked with plenty of kids that were headed to permanent welfare status that had the mental chops to succeed if they were only given incentive and shown the way, but they were so actively hostile to the whole idea of doing things like average middle class Americans that they straight up refused to do anything they perceived of as like that culture.
The only insult to the military there is the reality that the military discipline would be replacing actual parenting.
For them those things are free, but they I sure do dislike being handed the bill.
This is one of the biggest problems with the idea of welfar – It provides no impetus to force these people to get up and work. Sure, they could flip burgers and make their own money, but from their perspective they're making less money and have to give up their personal time to actually, you know, work. The gubmint pays 'em more to sit around and do nothing.
I'll look somewhat past the fat. Have you actively tried to maintain a healthy diet on a very limited budget? While I wouldn't by any means call it impossible, there is no escaping that some of the cheapest food can also be some of the worst.
I will agree that they "poor" people do not have nice, name brand clothing and cell phones though. Heck, I'm actively taxed for my income and I don't have a cell. As nice as it is, it's one expense that is less important than others to carry.
You know, a whole lot of World War II Veterans never made it out of Jr. High, and yet tey won an entire World War. Many didn't have jobs for a very long time before the War ,because of the Great Depression.
Didn't take a Rocket Scientist back then to storm the Beach at Normandy.
Can they Drive? Doesn't take a whole lot of skill to drive down a road waiting for a Roadside Bomb to explode..
The United States Army teaches on a very basic educational level for many jobs, like Infantry. Many jobs like that have plenty of pictures involved in training & a lot of repetitive hands on training.
The Military also has reminders everywhere, a block of C4 has "Do Not Eat" right on the plastic wrapper.
Cut-off Score for Infantry is low, although I do believe at least a GED is required, perhaps there is some Employee that I currently pay who can help said individuals with obtaining a GED?.
So, just how long till you get those people fixed up and back into Society? Or do I just pay for their free ride for the rest of their lives?
You know, under the equal protection clause if one gets a free ride off the taxpayer for life then perhaps no one in the Nation has to work, then how would all that Tax be paid?
True, but quitting school to stay on the farm or work, is not the same as being STUPID.
All a taxpayer has to do these days, to prove to themselves how right you are, is just go to an ER. I made the mistake a couple years ago of getting too fretful over an alergic reaction of my then 84 year old mother. So I took her to a big city ER. After wading through the alcholics, drug addicts and general refuse (I do not say that lightly, they STANK) we got to the woman checking people in. We had private insurance, credit, spoke English and she looked at us like WE were aliens.
Roger that, Mac.
There are jobs in the Military where too much thinkin' is not a good thing (from a Military standpoint)
I find myself wondering, when the redistribution is complete, and we all have nothing, will we be able to have our chickens and donkeys? Right now there are all these mandates and zoning laws and busy bodies (generally the same people who are coordinating the redistribution stuff) telling us what livestock we can and can't have. But if the goal is to have America be just like everywhere else…. can I keep some chickens now???
It worked for me!!! My 20 yr pension has saved my butt more than once..BTW, with the exception of direct combat, I contend that the military is much safer than most 'urban' areas !
Maybe the military could change but right now, you've got to have your GED and do well on a test. I think it's called ASVAB. My um…acquaintences can do neither.
I promise you, I've seen them try.
Of course maybe being hungry would make them try HARDER
Hoorah!
Not a whole lot of shootin' KIA going on right now, the IEDs are doining a number on the Troops though, and every MOS rides down the road at some point.
Cut-Off Score for Infantry in low.
What the Nation needs is a Draft….. Cut-Off Scores get real low then.
and a big reason to drug test them…
shamnesty for millions of criminals….oh that's right, future dimocrap zero liability voters…my bad
Demanding and getting more…..will do to this country what unions did to American businesses. The auto companies.
The only difference is that at some point the government will have nowhere to go to get a bailout.
I used to think this. If they get hungry enough they'll work.
then I saw people standing in in New Orleans screaming for help while the floodwaters came up around their ankles. They didn't even have the sense to run.
Maybe they would just curl up and cry and whine and starve. I admit I have a pretty dim view.
Then if they get admitted, all the family members want free food, they are the loudest to complain, and when they leave, they steal the linens.
it is simply mother nature`s way of weeding out the weak and those not capable of, or interested in self preservation.been going on for eons. at what point do you stop trying to save a drowning man who will only take you down with him? cold? yes. necessary? in MOST cases.you cannot survive(as a people, or a nation) if you allow yourself to be "killed" by someone or something that is not capable of, or does not care if "it" survives.
I don't care if your fat or skinny. The point was that to be applying for reduced priced housing, they sure weren't missing any meals. I'm tired of the govt feeling sorry for those that take advantage of the system. If your poor because you don't work, you don't deserve to live like someone who does. What's the incentive to better your life if the government is going to pay for your house, food, clothing, electricity, cell phone, and whatever else? I'd like to see the percentage of people on govt assistance that would fail a drug test. Betcha it high.
What a grand idea to turn unused state owned building into apartments, housing the people on govt assistance, putting them to work (we are paying them) for the state, and giving them drug tests every month.If they fail their cut off. Maybe they'll get tired and get a real job, if not at least their earning their money.
It's the same with "40 million people are uninsured". As I moved over to the conservative side in the last few years I've noticed that statistics are meaningless without context. Like why aren't more women in the engineering field. Just because the numbers are low doesn't mean there is discrimination. And your poverty numbers – it's basically fluid. As are the "uninsured" numbers – totally fluid.
People need to wake up.
This is very true. My aunt's husband did this: he was collecting unemployment after having been laid off. My uncle (aunt's brother) told him about an opportunity to work at the plant he was working at. My aunt's husband declined as he would rather stay at home. He's working now, but it was a stupid move.
I know for sure my mother's parents, who lived in England after the War, never once collected while they were capable of working. If their union went on strike, they found other jobs. I'm pretty sure it was the same with my father's parents. My paternal grandmother was a go getter. She never sat still.
We have lost that character trait in this country. And we can thank FDR for that.
Can I ask a question – why do European countries, so-called "social welfare countries", have lower corporate taxes than we do? If those countries are supposedly "anti-capitalist", then why would they give corporations a break? And then who pays for all the welfare programs? Just ordinary citizens?
Just curious. Thanks.
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