Istook’s Insights: Taking offense, and 20 percent of Americans on public assistance
Published: July 9th, 2015
Are you thin-skinned and easily offended?
A judge says the Washington Redskins cannot keep their trademark because it disparages Native Americans. The trademark was granted in 1967, but political correctness knows no time limits.
There’s a ruckus over the Confederate flag, 150 years after the Civil War.
Remember that Paula Deen lost endorsements for terms she used 30 years before?
From media reports, you’d think that Donald Trump called all Mexicans crooks, rather than singling out the gang members who come here and commit crimes. Never mind that 3/4ths of the drug dealers in federal prison are illegal aliens.
Facts don’t matter; the liberal media tell you what to think, so that’s all that they report.
If rainbow lights on the White House offend you, too bad. If Al Sharpton’s race-baiting bothers you, too bad. It’s only news if liberals are offended. If you’re not a liberal, too bad.
Also in the news, America is setting new records for public assistance.
One person in every five currently gets public assistance—some type of welfare. The welfare reform of the 1990’s has been abandoned. But there’s been little debate or news coverage while we backslid.
Does the bad economy push more people to depend on government, or does dependency create the bad economy by killing the work ethic?
Either way, we have over 52-million people on assistance. And this does not count Social Security or Medicare, which are not based on proving need.
The benefit programs include Medicaid and food stamps—the biggest two–also Supplemental Security payments, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, housing subsidies, and utility payments.
Since 2004, the number of people on assistance has grown by a fourth. Those receiving help typically get it for 3 to 4 years.
For some, it becomes permanent.
It’s one in five. 52 million people.