Takers get taken.
This is the argument that more people need to hear.
Living off the state is not the case at all.
The state is living off of every person who is taking a "handout" from the state.
The people in government who want to stay in power take advantage of human venality, which we all have a propensity to deal with, yet fosters the cult of dependence and envy, which in turn leads people to cast their votes for whomever they believe will "give them more things."
Except that people are not "getting more things."
They are getting less, much less.
Adam Corolla made this case perfectly. His mother was a "welfare queen" who tolerated poverty because if she got a job, she would lose her welfare. Corolla lamented that now we will never know what she was capable of, we will never know if she had great ideas, skills, powers to help and heal and serve others, which would have in turn helped her to prosper, not just "get by."
Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin has shared the sentiment of many people who are impoverished and struggling. They do not want to be there. They do not want to be dependent. They want to step up and take hold of opportunities in their lives, they want to advance their options, engage the potential within themselves and succeed. Walker's reforms have encourage people to leave welfare and work. President Bill Clinton offered them same reforms in 1996, with the intense prodding of a Republican Congress. Men and women who were barely making it on the dole, got off the dole and went on a roll reaching to family and friends, stepping back into the job market, and making more of themselves.
Working, earning, saving, investing. prospering. Takes longer than one would expect, perhaps, but prosperity must be nurtured over time, otherwise people waste their wealth as soon as they get it.
Poverty is a curse, and state subsidies merely deepen the dependence of citizens on the state, which makes everyone the poorer. In the end, takers get taken