We live in an age when an increasing number of people are relying on the government. Reliance on the government does not just extend to social welfare programs; even middle-class people are taking advantage of the ‘free’ public education and low-cost health care insurance programs that their taxes fund.
However, there is a multitude of reasons that many of us insist on doing for ourselves. Here are the top nine.
1. The Government Can be Heavy-Handed.
Is anyone else concerned about increasing the scope of power that a small amount of oligarchs wields over us? Every day brings a new example of Big Government telling people what to do with their most intimate lives. For example, in some states, the government has done away with all exemptions for vaccination.
If you want your children in a public school or a state-funded hospital (and they’re all state-funded now), you have to let them decide how your children are raised. Rather than biting the hand that feeds you, stop taking the food.
2. The Government Is Inefficient.
Anyone who has been in the military or any government service can attest to the immense amount of paperwork needed for even the smallest decisions. Committees of experts and a team of consultants are necessary to make a decision on what color of toilet paper to put in the restrooms.
Government employees spend their days in meetings and pushing papers, with very little actually getting done. Depending on a government program for any necessity means becoming yet another piece of paper on a desk somewhere.
3. The Government Wastes Money.
Bureaucracy is expensive. All of those paper pushers sit on government-funded chairs at government-funded desks writing on government-funded laptops and then take home government-funded paychecks. Most tax dollars are spent on all of the people working in big shiny buildings before they ever reach the intended target.
Sure, a lot of us are paying taxes for these services we will never use. However, it is usually impossible to avoid taxes. It is, however, possible to avoid becoming another drain on tax dollars. When fewer people use government services, the government will have less of an excuse for its blatant waste of funds.
4. The Government Is Always Late.
Hurricane Katrina is a fine example of the government being a day late and a dollar short. People waited for Uncle Sam to dig them out of the wreckage left behind but no one came until the formerly world-renowned city of New Orleans was a cesspool of sewage, looters, and rotting bodies.
They’ve done little more than damage control since then; the waterfront has still not been rebuilt and many levees remain in such poor condition that another hurricane might cause the same situation.
5. The Government is Corrupt.
You might as well send a check to the mafia every month; they probably have less overhead. There are a few people who can successfully depend on the government, but they’re lobbyists and the cronies of our representatives.
Unless you can afford to pay off a few senators, the government cannot be relied upon. Even worse, collectivist government programs are where some of the worst and most egregious corruption occurs. Contractors for bridges and roads, for example, are chosen by who they know and how many minorities work in the back office while the well-connected CEO pockets millions. When you rely on the government for anything at all, you are feeding the beast.
6. The Government Doesn’t Care.
Anyone who thinks that the government cares about the people it claims to help needs a reality check. Our soldiers come back to find there are no resources for even the decent care of their battle wounds. Young widows and infirm widows are cut off of needed benefits over paperwork errors every day.
The government doesn’t care about your kid or your grandma. Institutions are not people; they do not have a heart or emotions. Only people can care, and that’s why charity is best handled in our own homes and neighborhoods.
7. These Benefits Won’t Be Around Forever.
Don’t get too comfortable relying on the government to handle the distribution of aid and benefits. Programs like Social Security are being driven into the ground and costing far more than the benefits paid–and far more than taxpayers can financially sustain.
The programs simply cannot continue to exist in their current form. Smart people don’t let themselves become dependent on aid that is, at best, temporary.
8. There Is Pride in Self-Sufficiency.
If you’ve ever seen a four-year-old feed the chickens or complete even the simplest chore, you have seen pride. Yet somehow our society beats this important human feeling out of us by adulthood.
We forget how good it feels to do things ourselves. Refuse to let go of that simple joy. Taking care of yourself and your own is sometimes difficult, sometimes a sacrifice, and always worth it.
9. I Don’t Need To.
Even the best and most hardworking people of our times have an odd sense of entitlement. It’s easy to see how this develops. Most Americans work hard and pay their fair share; it’s only right to expect something in return.
However, there was a time when government dollars were not a fact of life. People maintained their own roads, grew much of their food, and lived without carefully tracked and rationed public utilities we now take for granted. I can run my life just fine without government assistance, so I will.
