What sets Americans apart from people in so many other countries is that we actually like working. No, every job isn’t fun, but Americans understand the dignity that comes with work. We achieve a sense of self-reliance by producing something worthwhile, creatively using our unique talents, and providing security and opportunity for ourselves and our families.
When the Congressional Budget Office reported that ObamaCare would push 2.3 million people out of the workforce, all but the most blindly partisan understood this to be bad news.
The ObamaCare spin machine then proceeded to tell us that bad news is good news, up is down, and less is more.
“Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance,” lectured Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat leader in Congress.
Well, Ms. Pelosi, why stop at health insurance? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people didn’t have to work in order to eat, own a home, or drive a car? Then we could all just go fishing.
Except that somebody has to pay for all of this.
Under ObamaCare that “somebody” is increasingly young people. Already burdened by the costs of college loans, home mortgages and car payments, young people now see their health insurance premiums increasing (often by 60 to 250 percent) and their out-of-pocket costs soaring, too.
Add to that burden other government-imposed costs, like taxes for Medicare and Social Security programs that are going broke, and it’s clear that young people are taken to the cleaners.
Worse still, the entitlement state saddles still-younger people – children and future generations – with debt that limits their opportunities because it strangles the economy.
Our view of entitlements would change drastically if, each year, we had to personally meet with the children, grandchildren, friends and neighbors to receive the money they pay for our entitlements. Most people would be motivated by conscience to become self-reliant and to stop taking from those they know and love.
Instead, government launders the money for us – quietly taking it at tax time and then “giving” it to others with no strings or conscience attached.
Pelosi and others extol this practice by proclaiming that ObamaCare frees people from “job lock” – staying with a job to keep their health insurance. As usual, they create a convoluted solution when a much simpler one would do.
The link between employment and health insurance is another creation of government. Employers can deduct health insurance premiums from their taxable income, but workers aren’t allowed to do the same. By simply shifting that deduction to every American, “job lock” would be broken and individuals could choose their own health insurance. No government program is required.
That solution makes workers less dependent on government, so the Dependency Party will not tolerate it because the less you rely on government, the less likely you are to vote for Democrats.
When Barack Obama said he wanted to “fundamentally transform” America, he meant it. This transformation means changing Americans’ attitude of self-reliance. Contrast the European view that jobs are the price one must pay for weekends, vacations and retirement – not as something that’s liberating or fulfilling.
Many policies advanced by President Obama create disincentives for work. Under ObamaCare, the less money you earn, the more subsidy you receive. Combine that with Obama’s extension of unemployment benefits and his attempts to eliminate welfare’s work requirement, and the pattern of cultivating dependency is unmistakable.
Likewise, ObamaCare is causing employers to reduce worker hours and limit new hires. Another seven million people – who now pay for health insurance through their jobs – will lose that health insurance because of ObamaCare.
Thanks to President Obama and the Dependency Party, we are rapidly approaching the point where so many people are jumping into the entitlement bandwagon that there’s no one left to pull it.