There's no denying most Americans need help

February 22, 2012 at 11:36am

Outrage over government spending, particularly on social programs, helped fuel the Tea Party movement. And it has been a key issue for conservative presidential candidates, who have all pledged to cut spending.

But some recent reports show that conservatives, despite their criticisms of government spending on benefits programs, are more dependent on them than they may know.

A recent New York Times article highlighted the issue. The Times featured conservatives like Ki Gulbranson, a logo apparel business owner who helped elect a Tea Party candidate who ran on cutting social-program spending.

It turns out that Gulbranson has received thousands of dollars from the federal government in the form of an earned-income tax credit, and his children receive subsidized meals at their public school.

Gulbranson is not a rare example. Millions of Americans, including conservatives, are increasingly dependent on government assistance, according to the Times piece. But in 2010, many of them voted against politicians whose policies often benefited their families and businesses.

I've always thought it was the dirty little secret about the 2010 election. Many conservatives would be severely hurt if the representatives they helped to elect enacted the cuts they campaigned on.

TalkingPointsMemo.com has posted a map that further examines the amount of tax dollars that states receive in aid compared to the amount of tax revenue they contribute to the federal government. And heavily Republican states are not, as you might expect, low recipients of government assistance.

The map was created using IRS data and takes into account the Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Veterans, and educational assistance that states receive. Conservative Texas receives about a dollar back for every dollar it sends to government coffers. Arizona receives $2.05 and South Carolina receives $2.13.

To be fair, I don't think most us (on the left or the right) know how much government help we receive.

And I'm not convinced that conservatives would give tax breaks to corporations and millionaires if they knew that they'll be paid for through spending cuts on most social programs. Those cuts would come too close to home.

Comments for "There's no denying most Americans need help" (1)

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Yugoboy said on Feb. 23, 2012 at 8:45pm

As a libertarian sympathetic to both the Tea Party and OWS, I can argue both sides of this issue. The debate being outlined here is a chicken and egg question.
Are we in trouble because we spend too much on social services, or do we require social services because we give away too much to the corporations?

"Conservatives" who require social services may be considered hypocrites, or they are simply required by circumstance? If a conservative feels the government takes to much money and wastes it on others, is it truly hypocritical to utilize social programs you qualify for to get some of that money back?

I don't think it is.

We're in trouble both because we spend too much and we favor the wrong economic parties in taxation. If we spend less and even out the tax policies, we might find our way out of this thing.
Until the government stops favoring banks over people, and starts caring about the middle class again, we're never going to be on the right track.

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