The Progeny of Big Government
This is what the nanny state has wrought...
The title of this post is cribbed from Mark Steyn's latest missive, 'The New Britannia'.
"As part of my promotional efforts [for the new book After America], I chanced to find myself on a TV show the other day with an affable liberal who argued that what Obama needed to do was pass another trillion-dollar — or, better yet, multi-trillion — stimulus. I think not. The London rioters are the children of dependency, the progeny of Big Government: They have been marinated in “stimulus” their entire lives. There is literally nothing you can’t get Her Majesty’s Government to pay for...."
Yes, as we have seen in Britain, taking away, or even reducing the marinade can cause tantrums among the progeny.
But this of course is nothing new. As of late we have seen riots in Greece, and large protests elsewhere in Europe are something of a sport when the proletariat face lowered expectations from their subsidized fuel/food/vacation or promised gucci pension benefits. Truck drivers, farmers, pensioners, students..they have fallen into the warm embrace of dependence for which there is no intervention short of true austerity.
Could it happen here? Perhaps not today, but perhaps sometime not far into the future, as the middle class more and more is dependent on the government.
Terrence O. Moore highlights this growing circumstance perfectly in his post today, 'Free, White, Under Twenty-One . . . And on the Dole'.
"The purpose of the Old Welfare State was ostensibly helping the poor. The New Welfare State is in the business of making more poor to help. The Old Welfare State exhausted the cities long ago. The New Welfare State has moved out to the country....There is a race to the bottom to qualify for this or that state or federal handout. Yet all this is counted a victory for some. New mouths to feed grow the Nanny State. New mouths to feed translate to more votes for the Democrats. And hardly a Republican dares to question the change."
And to put the icing on the cake, we once again turn to Steyn, "Big Government means small citizens: It corrodes the integrity of a people, catastrophically..."
It may have taken 45 years, but we finally have our "Great Society"....a brave, new society...
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Sep '10
Re: The Progeny of Big Government
Nicely said, not only does the socialist state retard our desire and ability to succeed, it destroys those qualities that made our societies great to begin with.
Our nation becomes like a large hollowed out tree which keeps is stature and proportions, but is likely to be knocked down by strong winds.
Not tomorrow maybe but we need to turn in around for sure.
May '10
Re: The Progeny of Big Government
One other item I forgot to include, when it comes to the question, "Could it happen here?"
The other night my wife turned to me and asked, "Do we need to buy a gun?" Having both grown up in suburban New England, it is not something that has been tradition in either of our families.
But, perhaps...perhaps we shall....
Dec '10
Re: The Progeny of Big Government
I don't see the UK riots as the result of the announced (not implemented!) budget cuts. I see that as an ex post facto rationalization by people who went out to steal stuff and indulge in mayhem-based "fun," and then realized they needed some sort of reason to give when asked why.
The protests started as a reaction to the police killing of Mark Duggan -- who may well have needed killing. When the police took a passive stance in those initial protests, some of the participants who were not all that concerned about Duggan or injustice took the opportunity to pick up trainers (basketball shoes) and flat-screen TVs at a five-finger discount, and then light buildings on fire to admire the dancing flames.
As we've seen, plenty of people unaffected by cuts joined in, because they wanted to be seen as authentically part of the popular youth culture, real-life Ali Gs.
The welfare state did destroy family integrity, giving rise to generations with large proportions of whose moral education extends no further than "I got mine, Jack" and "Might makes right." That's how it's truly to blame for the riots.
May '10
Re: The Progeny of Big Government
Stuart, the point in your final paragraph is what I was really shooting for. Yes, the trigger event was a shooting, but the bereft societal culture that makes it acceptable to do as the looters have done is the underlying cause, and is entirely at the feet of the welfare state.
Edited on Aug 14, 2011 at 4:31pmJan '11
Re: The Progeny of Big Government
Mark Steyn
“This is the logical dead end of the Nanny State. When William Beveridge laid out his blueprint for the British welfare regime in 1942, his goal was the "abolition of want" to be accomplished by "co-operation between the State and the individual." In attempting to insulate the citizenry from life's vicissitudes, Sir William succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. As I write in my book: "Want has been all but abolished. Today, fewer and fewer Britons want to work, want to marry, want to raise children, want to lead a life of any purpose or dignity.
“The United Kingdom has the highest drug use in Europe, the highest incidence of sexually transmitted disease, the highest number of single mothers, the highest abortion rate. Marriage is all but defunct, except for William and Kate, fellow toffs, upscale gays and Muslims. From page 204: "For Americans, the quickest way to understand modern Britain is to look at what LBJ's Great Society did to the black family and imagine it applied to the general population."
Jun '11
Re: The Progeny of Big Government
Yes it could happen here in America. The moocher class is growing bolder by the day. I see it. You see it. It grows because people are being given more handouts and learning that handouts are the norm. Why work if it doesn't bother you to be a moocher?
Buy the gun. Buy one for you and one for your wife so you both can be ready.
Hope and work for the best, but prepare for the worst.
May '10
Re: The Progeny of Big Government
And here is how Peter Hitchens sums it up more succinctly: ;As the polluted flood (it is not a tide; it will not go back down again) of spite, greed and violence washes on to their very doorsteps, well-off and influential Left-wingers at last meet the filthy thing they have created..." (http://tinyurl.com/3lxtzkz)
Edited on Aug 14, 2011 at 8:35pmSep '10
Re: The Progeny of Big Government
Charles Allen: One other item I forgot to include, when it comes to the question, "Could it happen here?"
The other night my wife turned to me and asked, "Do we need to buy a gun?" Having both grown up in suburban New England, it is not something that has been tradition in either of our families.
But, perhaps...perhaps we shall.... · Aug 14 at 1:59pm
I understand the Remington 870 pump action shot gun is a good choice.
Apr '11
Re: The Progeny of Big Government
Charles Allen: One other item I forgot to include, when it comes to the question, "Could it happen here?"
The other night my wife turned to me and asked, "Do we need to buy a gun?" Having both grown up in suburban New England, it is not something that has been tradition in either of our families.
But, perhaps...perhaps we shall.... · Aug 14 at 1:59pm
"Walk softly and carry an armored tank division I always say" to quote Jack.
I was watching Peter's most recent UnComknowledge interview Thatcher's biographer and am now wondering after her successes in both the coal strike and the Falklands how would or how did she react to this sort of hooliganism.
Jun '10
Re: The Progeny of Big Government
Charles Allen:
.........And to put the icing on the cake, we once again turn to Steyn, "Big Government means small citizens..."
That's Dennis Prager's exact phrase. He's been saying that for years. I don't think Steyn would claim to have coined it.
Sep '10
Re: The Progeny of Big Government
I was going to reply to this, but then I saw that Stuart Creque had already done so, and with better writing than mine. So I'll just chime in by saying with Stuart that the proximate cause of the riots wasn't any reduction in government benefits. Indeed, the proposed cuts have hardly been implemented yet.
But I also agree with Charles' main point--this is the endpoint, long foreseen, of the nanny state. And when cuts are implemented anywhere--including the US--the Left will incite violence out of one side of its mouth, and with the other it will blame the violence on "draconian cuts in vital social programs".
Arm yourselves, mentally and otherwise.