One of the main assertions of the collectivist is that an equal distribution of property is necessary to the well being of all as opposed to just the ‘lucky’ few who manage to amass wealth through exploitation.  This sounds good, and to those envious masses who have accepted the lie that they have not because someone took it from them, it is often irresistibly seductive.  But it is a lie, as are all the collectivist’s supposed solutions to these imagined ills.  Inevitably, though it is most often called by another name, the solution ends up being some form of welfare, and the Truth about welfare is it destroys the soul of both the recipient and the giver.  It also leads to a master/servant relationship from the giver to the recipient.

When LBJ launched his “War on Poverty,” the programs they devised were intentionally designed to destroy the family unit, but they were packaged so they could simultaneously be sold to a nation that was – at the time – predisposed toward the rejection of handouts on principle.  By making it a requirement that there couldn’t be an able bodied male in the household if one was to receive welfare, LBJ and his people made it appear that welfare was only intended for those who truly couldn’t help themselves.  Which meant it was only reasonable that people be able to receive more money for every child they had in a fatherless home.  After all, more people meant more need which translates into a requirement for more help (i.e. money).

Unfortunately, the real purpose was to encourage people not to marry – even to divorce.  By having the father leave the home, the family could then receive more welfare money from the government – which was taking it from people who now had to work harder to support those who were being enticed into welfare by the very government selling them the welfare drug for their votes.  And this was the twofold reward for those who designed this policy: they not only got to destroy the family unit, which makes it easier to indoctrinate children into the State’s way of thinking, but it also rewards the very State enslaving them by ensuring they will continue to vote for the people pumping the welfare drug into their veins.  In the event that you doubt me, understand that the people who were doing this were and are Progressives, and Wilson told us Progressive is the word used to make Communism palatable to the American people, and the father of applied Communism said:

Destroy the family, you destroy the country.

–Vladimir Lenin

And the first thing a Communist Revolutionary must do before he can rebuild society in his image is destroy the old one…

What this does – in addition to destroying the family and undermining the primary means of teaching religion, as well – is it destroys the soul.  The welfare system was not designed to help someone up, it was designed to beat them down and keep them down.  As it is now, welfare only allows a person to make so much money before they start to lose benefits.  So, if you can work and make $X a month, or not work and still make $X a month, why would you work?  You wouldn’t.

On Labor Day 2013, Welfare Pays More Than Minimum-Wage Work In 35 States

Now, what if the government then tells you the only way to make more money is to vote for those who will give it to you?  Then they can insure those who are already in the system will continue to vote for them while – slowly but surely – more people who had been struggling to pay their bills as well as those who were no longer working start to give up and join those who do not work.  This is the brilliance of Atlas Shrugged: it demonstrates the insidious nature of this process and the mentality behind those on all three sides of it – the taker, the giver and the truly exploited ‘rich’ man in the middle, the “Forgotten Man.”

In time, a person gives up, especially on the notion of personal responsibility.  They adopt the victimhood mentality because it functions as a suave to sooth their conscience over doing something they instinctively know to be wrong.  But they also don’t see any way out, so they just give in to the addiction.  After a generation or two, it becomes a way of life and the government no longer has to teach dependency to children – their parents do it for the government.  And that is what we see on full display in this story (these people knew what they were doing was wrong, they just didn’t care – or worse, they have convinced themselves they “deserve” this):

Food Stamp Glitch Leaves Walmart Shelves Bare: ‘Like a Tornado Had Came Through’

Or this video:

By the time a person reaches a state such as the one the mother in this video is in, they are lost.  Only God can change their lives.  So, the next time someone starts arguing for some form of wealth redistribution on the grounds of fairness or equality, understand that – whether they are aware of it or not – they are advocating the destruction of human dignity and – eventually – the human soul.  And that is not charity, it is evil incarnate.

Real charity is found in helping people find and keep their dignity by helping them to provide for themselves and their family, and by teaching them to be proud of that — no matter how much or how little that may be.

See my related posts on The Road to Concord:

APPLIED NATURAL LAW: A Natural Law Approach To Welfare

APPLIED NATURAL LAW: A Natural Law Approach To Handling Welfare Abusers