Are Entitlements Making America Anemic?

An interesting editorial appeared in the Wall Street Journalwhere Anthony Gill, a professor of political science, attempted to explain the success of the Taliban through an economics prism.  He referenced economist Laurence Iannacone, who argued that “organizations are “club goods” wherein members share many collective benefits such as welfare provision and fellowship.  Those benefits depend on active contribution. If everyone participates willingly, the organization is vibrant.  If many members are free-riders-receiving the benefits without pulling their weight-the quality of the good dissipates and the organization becomes anemic.” Perhaps this can be extrapolated and applied to western democracies as well,where religious and traditional beliefs have been replaced by government mandates and reliance on the state. With 61% of Americans paying no taxes in an era where the current administration is intent on increasing entitlements, most notably the $3.5 Trillion domestic spending billworking its way through Congress, are we ourselves becoming anemic?  With free pre-K, universal child care payments, paid family and medical leave and free community college setting the stage for the next push for single payer health care and guaranteed universal income, more beneficiaries will likely choose to remain on the sidelines and take a pass on “active contribution” without any disincentives.  Professor Gill observes that “to limit free riding, strict religious groups (like the Taliban) require members to prove their loyalty via costly and visible behavior that deters the lazy…”  In other words, they employ a carrot and stick approach, something that progressives in this country continue to move away from by removing disincentives that would otherwise keep the “lazy” productive.  Witness the Obama Administration that removed the requirement that an able bodied recipient had to prove to the welfare office that they were actively looking for work, or when a clean drug test was eliminatedas a requirement to receive benefits.  Reward sloth and,surprise…..you get more sloth.  Iannacone again: “stigmatizing behavior also limits the outside opportunities of group members and binds them to the organization.”  The welfare stigma has long been eliminated where even the term “welfare” has been replaced with “benefits” and the embarrassing food stamps and welfare checks replaced with credit cards.  And with the stigma removed, the immediate result was benefit cards being used in strip clubs and to purchase booze and cigarettes. Stigma eliminated, replaced with pride in being able to “work the system”. Not cool.  Especially not for the 39% of us who are actively contributing.  You know, the ones pulling the wagon. And with the most progressive tax structure in the world, where the top 10% of earners pay 71% of the tax burden, the Democrat party’s rallying cries of “tax the rich” and “pay your fair share” become even more repugnant in their outright misrepresentation of the facts. Professor Gill closes with a nod to the Taliban: “despite the seeming irrelevance of religion in the secular West, policy makers and military strategists would do well to understand its power elsewhere in the world.”  Perhaps we should consider a little religion as a potential cure for our anemia here at home.