According to a USA Today article this morning 1 out of every 6 American dollars spent is from a government benefit in the form of Social Security, food stamps, unemployment insurance and other welfare expenses. It all comes out to around $2 trillion (that’s 2,000,000,000,000) that will be spent this year – an average of $17,000 per U.S. household.

Of course, that’s a misleading statement. $17,000 per household would be true if it were given in equal amount to everyone, but what would be the point of taxing the population just to give it back to them? There’s isn’t a point – unless you’re talking redistribution.

“Every U.S. household” doesn’t pay taxes, and good many of them won’t see a penny of this. The reality is that if 1 out of 6 dollars spent is government cash, then 1 out of 9 is straight from the pockets of the wealthiest 5%, who fund 2/3 of government operations. The top 50% funds nearly all of it.

So to you, top 50 percent-ers, who aren’t receiving government money and have no hope of seeing your due Social Security check after years of contributions, I hope it is rewarding at least to know that you are helping people. After all, once your taxes have paid for the salaries of collectors and administrators involved in distributing your money; and after paying for the necessary office buildings and subsequent maintenance and electricity bills; and after being run through the entire machine of government bureaucracy, at least a portion of your money will eventually be put into a check and handed to some tired and broken soul – or perhaps just a person playing the system. It’s difficult to tell the difference, really, when the person in line is just another person in line.

Never mind giving your money to a church or local charity. Sure, they deal directly with individuals in the community to assess their specific needs – financial, emotional and spiritual. And yes, they are smaller and have a much less expensive and complicated administrative overhead. And yes, they can operate free of the politics and heavy strings attached to public money and public institutions. You are missing the point entirely…

The key here is that government knows how to spend your money better than you, and is the rightful decider of who must give and who must receive. 

Never mind that LBJ’s “Great Society” campaign to end poverty in America through massive government programs failed miserably and resulted in even more poverty and more people dependent on government aid, while expending government power substantially. Never mind that every country that has ever taken the path of Socialism in the name of equality has become militarily, technologically and economically broke.

Never mind that the entire basis for the founding of our nation was that individuals have an inherent right to their life, liberty and property (as originally put by John Locke).

You voted for change. What did you expect?