Government Beneficiaries

Creeping Socialism

The chart at this link shows that more and more Americans are dependent on Government for their livelihood as the years pass. For Government Beneficiaries, the data apparently includes government workers, contractors, recipients of government benefits and their dependents. I wonder if I'm counted because I receive Medicare benefits?

Argue with the data if you will, but I think it's obvious that America is heading to a socialistic state. Many factors drive this including the growth in government spending, the export of America's manufacturing base, and the 'you owe me/take care of my needs and wants' mentality that inexorably increases year after year as people become more dependent on government. This quote rings truer every time I read it:

"The mania for giving the Government power to meddle with the private affairs of cities or citizens is likely to cause endless trouble, through the rivaly of schools and creeds that are anxious to obtain official recognition, and there is great danger that our people will lose our independence of thought and action which is the cause of much of our greatness, and sink into the helplessness of the Frenchman or German who expects his government to feed him when hungry, clothe him when naked, to prescribe when his child may be born and when he may die, and, in time, to regulate every act of humanity from the cradle to the tomb, including the manner in which he may seek future admission to paradise." (Emphasis added)

-Mark Twain