Wards of the State

Obama once again showed the true face of a Chicago ward boss when he dangled the threat of interrupted social security and veteran benefits checks over the heads of the American people. This is thug politics. Hopefully, however, the American people will see and understand what is being done. Personally, I believe that, in true Obama style, he made a ham-handed mistake: I do not believe the American people (yet) to be the same cowed, ignorant subjects that inhabit Chicago’s inner city wards.

So, what has Obama done?

1) First, he has wielded an empty threat based on a lie. For a good back-and-forth review of whether or not the U.S. a) has the funds to pay its social security obligations or b) risks a credit default, I recommend the body of the article and links provided here:

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/07/12/obama-no-i-cant-promise-that-social-security-checks-will-go-out-in-august-if-we-dont-reach-a-deal/

2) Obama has demonstrated that the government’s social security obligations fall pretty low on his priority list. As SADIE pointed out in a recent comment, Obama had no trouble committing the U.S. to a $100b (wasted) spending obligation for the U.N. The U.N, it seems, rates higher on Obama’s hierarchy of needs than do the needs of America’s seniors.

3. Obama has confirmed for everyone that people are getting more out of social security than they ever put in and that there is no more money for social security. There never was a lock box. Like Illinois pension funds, the money seniors contributed over their lifetimes has been expropriated and squandered by their government – it is gone! But then, we conservatives always knew that, didn’t we.

4. And the most important point that Obama illustrated so clearly for us is, “what the government giveth, the government can taketh away if you don’t eat your peas”.

And that, folks, is the biggest and most dangerous problem with government dependency that we have, be it health care, food stamps, housing allowances, farm subsidies, social security or any government benefit plan. This is how Chicago wards operate – if you don’t submit to your local ward boss or mayor and get out the vote or make your political contribution when called to do so, well…your trash won’t get picked up, your police protection may disappear, building inspectors may mysteriously appear and find multiple violations in your domicile or your car may get towed for having been legally parked. Heaven forbid if you should ever decide to run for election against your ward boss.

Of course, people learn and adapt. The smart, independent-minded folks opt to sell and move out. The lesser types move in and submit to the game. The talent leaves and the ward becomes like Chicago’s inner city – angry, impoverished, easily manipulated hell-holes…like Detroit or East St. Louis, for that matter. It’s no statistical anomaly that the U.S under Obama is already experiencing net capital flight.

Reliance on government entitlements and subsidies is a true road to serfdom.

Hopefully, this will be a wake-up call for all of America. I would like to believe that what works in Chicago will not work nationwide. What say you?