Reagan Was Right: It’s Scary When The Government Helps

American  Thinker 

After WWII, America effectively ruled the world. To understand how we lost that crown and how it evolved to leading from behind, look no further than the Bureaucratic-Marxist complex that dominates nearly every government function today, which in turn sets the tone for our citizenry.

Look no further than our fake institutionalized kindness, which has morphed into a right not to fail, as if that were even possible. You and I can be kind and caring. When a government does it, with other people’s money (OPM), it becomes something else: Institutionalized Caring, i.e., a faux, loving Big Brother. Every facet of local, State, and Federal government over two generations has adopted the false mantra of caring, yet in practice, it has done the opposite. Let’s review a few ways the government “helps” people:

Healthcare Access vs. Bureaucratic Barriers

• Claim: Government programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and the ACA were designed to ensure healthcare for all.
• Reality: Millions receive substandard or no healthcare at all due to administrative overreach, bureaucratic intransigence, high costs, and a detachment from reality, resulting in unforced errors.
• Veterans face long wait times and systemic failures in VA hospitals.
• Mental health services are routinely withheld or limited by bureaucratic fiat.

“We care about your health”—as long as you work within our system.

Housing Assistance vs. Urban Neglect

• Claim: HUD and local housing authorities aim to provide safe, affordable housing.
• Reality: Public housing is often dilapidated, unsafe, crime-ridden, and mismanaged.
• Rent subsidies (Section 8) have long waitlists and limited availability, and are often in deplorable condition.
• Affordable Housing is an oxymoron. Government rules make affordable housing cost more than for-profit housing on a square foot basis. Million-dollar affordable housing units are an abomination.

“We care about shelter,”—as long as you conform to our vision and rules.

Education Funding vs. Systemic Inequality

• Claim: Public education is the cornerstone of opportunity.
• Reality: America spends more per child on education than any other industrialized country. Why can’t Johnny read then?
• Federal programs like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top prioritized testing over learning, overlooking the root causes of ineffective teachers and useless administrators.

“We care about your children,”—but only if you don’t mind if they can’t read, write, or think critically!

Welfare Programs vs. Punitive Oversight

• Claim: Programs like SNAP, TANF, and unemployment insurance exist to support struggling families.
• Reality: Benefits are often just enough to get by, which encourages gaming the system and destroys ambition, and they’re routinely handed out to people who could work, but won’t.
• Many states have shifted or supplemented benefits with well-financed NGOs providing everything from healthcare to legal access and food, enriching the NGOs much more than their clients!
• Bureaucratic hurdles discourage leaving the government womb.

“We care about the poor,”—but the more the merrier. After all, caring for the poor is a growth industry!

Disaster Relief vs. Delayed Response

• Claim: FEMA and state agencies are ready to respond to crises.
• Reality: Responses to hurricanes, wildfires, and other disasters have been slow, mismanaged, or politically influenced.
• Aid distribution is uneven, with frequent bureaucratic and slow responses to immediate needs, despite the billions of available funds, while overspending on administration.
• Long-term recovery or even better, mitigation to address repeat losses is rarely prioritized.

“We care in a crisis,”—but optics come first, and rules are rules!

Government Efficiency

• Claim: While imperfect, the government is a good steward of your tax dollars.
• Reality: Most government functions are funded at a higher amount than for the same work in the private sector. Despite this taxpayer-funded wealth, they’re technical levels often resemble offices and functions from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Did you know the Federal government is the largest purchaser of vacuum tubes in the world and still has typing pools using typewriters?
• Almost no one gets fired for bad performance; they just get promoted. This is true at all levels of government. On top of that, government pay and benefits have increased to the point where they are typically better, often much better, than in the private sector.

“We are public servants,”—but don’t mess with our rice bowl!

Perhaps splitting us up into dozens, even hundreds, of pots was not the initial intent, but at some point, to justify hundreds of both feel-good and essential programs, the government lost sight of its intended mission. What evolved were well-funded fiefdoms with numerous layers of management, accountable to no one. This is true at every level of government, with a public be damed attitude more the rule than the exception.

The obvious answer is to stop treating everyone as if they are either a physical or emotional cripple, unable to live their lives without help. Before the Johnson era, private charity dominated social support needs. Once the Great Societyera came into being, the government took over, creating one-size-fits-all solutions to avoid the appearance of favor or discrimination. Discrimination (common sense) that had served us well was removed by law, allowing gamesmanship to develop into an art form. Millions now no longer work in favor of the security of living within government programs.

The only non-protected group today is adult white males. Think about that for a minute. Every other group, the crazier or more antisocial the better, can lay claim to your money for their support. Fracturing us along our many different lines furthers government power:

1.    If society is seen as fragmented (by class, race, geography, etc.), it legitimizes state involvement—whether through welfare programs, policing, education reform, or surveillance.

2.    It creates a narrative where the government is the glue holding disparate groups together.

3.    A divided public is less likely to unite against centralized authority. If people are busy fighting each other (left vs. right, urban vs. rural, etc.), they’re less likely to challenge the system itself.

4.    Governments often use the “fractured society” lens to frame national identity as a work in progress, always needing improvement.

What we know for sure is that the government not only benefits but also engineers our differences through subsidies and law. President Trump, this is your next target. Make America Great Again by ending policies that treat groups differently. Only then will our greatness return and be unstoppable by future administrations.