Saturday, February 12, 2011

Government is what we choose to do together

A shocking new survey of government aid recipients shows even these programs' participants are unaware that they have been receiving government aid.

529 or Coverdell64.3
Home mortgage interest deduction60.0
Hope or Lifetime Learning Tax Credit59.6
Student Loans53.3
Child and Dependent Tax Credit51.7
Earned income tax credit47.1
Social Security - Retirement and Survivors44.1
Pell Grants43.1
Unemployment Insurance43.0
Veterans Benefits (other than G.I. Bill)41.7
G.I. Bill40.3
Medicare39.8
Head Start37.2
Social Security Disability28.7
SSI - Supplementary Security Income28.2
Medicaid27.8
Welfare/Public Assistance27.4
Government Subsidized Housing27.4
Food Stamps25.4


This chart speaks for itself, but I'll accentuate two important points: over a quarter of even food stamp recipients are unaware that they are benefiting from a government program; over half of the benefactors of major tax and household credits are entirely unaware of their "dependence" on government aid.

Many of these programs are important to the American safety net and to middle class prosperity, but I leave line-by-line budget and efficacy analysis to those more qualified than I. My point here is rhetorical: How is it that so many Americans are entirely unaware of the important role played by government in modern economies -- even in "free market" economies such as the United States?

The standard response is to blame "the media" or conservative framing. This is as lazy as it is defeatist. The fact is that Republican claims about government are demonstrably false and ring of a deeply amoral selfishness that is at odds with the truly compassionate nature of real Americans. If Democrats are not out there every day making exactly these two points, then they have only themselves to blame when they are "outframed" by Republicans.

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