Politics and Culture

Jeremiah Wright is right: the American government did sell crack to its citizens- if you use "crack" as a metaphor for offering a product to ostensibly improve lives, but that really hooks them into a dependent relationship (with the best of intentions- I'm not a conspiracy theorist.).

Each socialist-leaning administration hastens our degeneration as a people, a rot that, for all intents, is permanent. The latest example is the prescription drug benefit. At a time when entitlements threaten to swallow our wallets whole, Bush chose (or was forced) to start a new one. If there's a problem in the future, or if PDB becomes more expensive than intended (inevitable), who will dare cut it? "They want to see our senior citizens grow sick."

It's a rule that once people start counting on government help when planning lifestyle choices, Uncle Sam will never get rid of it. It's not just giveaways either. Deductible interest mortgage is similar: People figure the benefit into their choice. Ditto corporate welfare and agricultural subsidies.

By the way: I don't hear many conservatives make this argument in March, but for a while some were telling conservatives to throw the 2008 election and wait until the contest in 2012 to elect a super-conservative. It's a bad idea, for the reasons above.