Picky, Picky, Picky

The welfare state mentality is close to universal today. Half of Americans are on the dole to one degree or another.

The outlook of this society is one of entitlements. They are deliberately called entitlements by their defenders because “charity” sounds voluntaristic. These handouts are not voluntary, as both the legislators and the recipients know. The recipients of money or non-monetary handouts think of the arrangement as both moral and legal. Because the dole is promised to oldsters, every member of society is taught to look forward to his days of wine and roses, his golden years of automatic monthly money and nearly free medical care.

An attitude of a moral right to other people’s money pervades what used to be called the lower ranks of society. Even where the legal right to other people’s money does not exist, the moral right is thought to. Those who have lived in terms of government handouts expect handouts to continue on at least a part-time basis from anybody who possesses any advantage, earned or not, which they do not possess. It is not just that they want to get their hands into your wallet through the civil government. They want to get their hands into your wallet directly. But this proves more difficult. They cannot use coercion, so they have to use a sob story. They make up effective ones.

This is why there are deacons in churches. This is why there are screening committees in charitable organizations. The donors need people who are skilled in sorting out sob stories of pretended need from real stories of real need.

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