Welfare Culture

Chefjef weighs in on a side note to this post:

Excellent exchange between Monk and Izmud. But I did want to comment on that welfare culture the "Left" has "tried" to establish. First, there is no "try" about it; the United States is, partially but unequivocally, a welfare culture. Second, it was not achieved byt he Left. Both parties have been completely complicit in establishing this culture. The the Left was at the forefront of establishing individual welfare while the Right was at the forefront of corporate and institutional welfare. In both cases, the opposing party offered token resistance - but not real resistance. And when one party has been in power in Congress, it has done very little to try and eliminate the type of welfare established by the other party when it was in power. Thus, complicity all around.

Chefjef

I agree--good points, all. Further, much of the "entitlement" culture benefits individuals in the middle class, not the poor or businesses, and the Republicans are just as guilty as the Democrats of creating and encouraging the sense of "being owed."

If we should ever create a "third way" party in this country, a couple of its platform planks should be 1) that anything but a flat tax for everybody above a certain livable income, for all businesses, with no deductions for anyone, is immoral; and 2) "welfare" should be only be for the truly indigent and helpless.

Monk