A visiting scholar at the Henry Salvatori Center at Claremont McKenna College, William Voegeli is a senior editor of the Claremont Review of Books and the author of Never Enough: America's Limitless Welfare State.
Voegeli reveals the stunning growth of the American welfare state since its inception, growing exponentially between World War II and today, and describes the intellectual groundwork of the modern welfare state -– a program sold to the American people in disguise. He asserts, "The only remaining constraint on the growth of the welfare state is the problem of paying for it."
Finally he insists that we cannot undo the welfare state. "We need a welfare state we can live with, one even that we can admire... But not limitless."
Bio
Peter Robinson
Peter M. Robinson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics, edits the Hoover Institution's quarterly journal, the Hoover Digest, and hosts Hoover's television program, "Uncommon Knowledge."
Robinson is also the author of three books: How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life; It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair with the GOP; and the best-selling business book Snapshots from Hell: The Making of an MBA.
William Voegeli
A visiting scholar at the Henry Salvatori Center at Claremont McKenna College, William Voegeli is a contributing editor to the Claremont Review of Books. His latest book is Never Enough: America's Limitless Welfare State.
Concept of government in which the state plays a key role in protecting and promoting the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those who lack the minimal provisions for a good life. The term may be applied to a variety of forms of economic and social organization. A basic feature of the welfare state is social insurance, intended to provide benefits during periods of greatest need (e.g., old age, illness, unemployment). The welfare state also usually includes public provision of education, health services, and housing. Such provisions are less extensive in the U.S. than in many European countries, where comprehensive health coverage and state-subsidized university-level education have been common. In countries with centrally planned economies, the welfare state also covers employment and administration of consumer prices. Most nations have instituted at least some of the measures associated with the welfare state; Britain adopted comprehensive social insurance in 1948, and in the U.S., social-legislation programs such as the New Deal and the Fair Deal were based on welfare-state principles. Scandinavian countries provide state aid for the individual in almost all phases of life.
The single most popular statement a politician can make is, "You deserve something for nothing". Anybody who gets anything they didn't earn is either receiving a gift or charity, but since peoples' pride won't allow them to accept either, they tell themselves, "I must be entitled to this." It's a lie. The greatest satire of socialism ever was Monty Python's "Dennis Moore" sketch.
The REAL issue is that America a welfare state. The first axiom to understand is LANGUAGE IS IMPORTANT. It's not a "bailout" or "TARP" it's WELFARE.
1. For over half a century, American taxpayers have doled out billions like clockwork to Israel, Panama, Phillipines...
2. Obvious recent welfarists on the dole: GM, Chrysler (second time), AIG, Goldman, Merrill, BofA, Wells, Citi, JPMC, Morgan Stanley....
3. Defense: The vast majority of defense companies such as Boeing are in defense contracts. In fact,militarism as an industry is -- outside of the black market -- virtually 100% welfare funding.
4. Big Ag. Let's face it; much like welfare nations like Israel, big ag has been around it seems like forever, draining welfare funds for things like corn which it then floods the markets with. ConAgra, Archer-Daniels Midland... yeah, they're non-household names in every household.
5. Healthcare. Think about it, what else is Medicare/aid other than a mechanism to transfer taxpayer money from the people and into the coffers of not one, not two, but three giant industries: insurance, pharma and hmos. Kaiser, Lilly, they're all welfarists. This explains why healthcare in this country willnever be substantially reformed; when you have THREE dominant powers with common interests, any one of which has deep pockets, armies of lobbyists and even more lawyers... forget it.
And yet people point fingers at a single mom of color who has kids and say that THEY are the enemy, draining our way of life of precious tax dollars. ROFL. Compared to BofA, Morgan Stanley, JPMC, Citi, Wells, Goldman and AIG, all of the single moms on welfare are as a gnat to an elephant.
The truth is that both conservatives and liberals for lack of better terms have constructed this reality and then put up this phony fight about "entitlements" "unions" etc etc as deflection so that we won't see the sad truth of just how deeply entrenched welfare truly is in our history AND current practice.
Would have been nice to have someone of differing opinion interview Voegeli. The purpose of debate is to learn something, as is the purpose of arguing. If your opponent agrees with most of your points, you learn less and accomplish nothing.
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