Promoting Welfare, Not Providing It

Article: Walmart shelves emptied by EBT recipients with little or no balances left on their cards after food stamp computer glitch.

I'm not sure which is worse, that so many people were affected by the glitch (thus, we have an extremely large number of people using food stamps), or that they felt entitled to steal when they realized they could get anything they wanted?

What if we lived in a world where instead of demanding the government do more for its citizens, it actually helped citizens provide for their own needs?

The government's role is to promote the general welfare, not provide welfare.  Our government spends hundreds of thousands of dollars advertising food stamps and enrolling more people into the program.  Why?  Because a government that feeds its people, controls its people.  The more needs our government provides for us, the people, the more powerful government becomes.  

Politicians like two things: money and power.  (Well okay, sex, too, but that falls under power.)  When they hold the pursestrings, when they dole out our food rations, our healthcare rations, our unemployment and welfare rations, our cell phone and internet rations, our housing rations...all of it, they have complete control of our lives.  The rationale for the rations?  Ultimately their importance, power and control.

They get income and healthcare free for life.  They get perks and bonuses.  They get sinecures after their terms (IF their terms end!) provided by their largest corporate campaign donor.  First St. NE in DC is really Easy Street, you know.

As a side note, if you're able to lie, cheat, steal and people love you (you have that magnetism that some are born with), then go into politics.  You'll do well, VERY well.

The EBT card glitch is nothing but a symptom of a growing disease in our government, in our social mentality.  Under the guise of "helping the less fortunate"(which, when done for real is noble and expected of any government!), the United States has expanded the hand out programs from a beneficial help to those truly in need, to the ignoble goal of subsidizing lifestyles.  And, under the Bush and Obama Administrations, these problems and programs have taken off, growing like Jack's magic beans into a stalk so high, we may eventually find the giant.