Kerby Anderson

Yesterday I talked about entitlement addiction. Today I want to focus on how hard it is to wean Americans off other government programs. Joe Messina begins a column by citing some of the recommendations given by pediatricians about when to wean a young child off of breast milk. For example, “a 2-year-old toddler may be more attached and less flexible about giving up breastfeeding than a 12-month-old baby.” Joe than asks, “Sound familiar? Government programs work like this.” I think we have all seen how a temporary government program becomes a permanent government program. When funding is about to run out, it gets extended. Soon too many people use the program, and it is impossible to “wean” them off of the government. Do you love art and music? Then obviously you would oppose any attempt to reduce government funding of the arts. Joe Messina reminds us that programs like “Sesame Street” and plays like “Hamilton” are making lots of money off the seed money from taxpayers. “Sesame Street” is worth over $400 million alone and the CEO of the Sesame Street brand makes almost $1 million a year. Joe rightly asks, “When do we get our cut?” Many programs are no longer necessary. The Rural Utilities Service was started in 1930 to get phones and electricity into rural areas. It fulfilled its mission but still exists to this day. The Rural Housing Service was created in 1949 to provide low interest loans to farmers but has changed its mission to provide loans to non-farm households in urban zip codes. What about all the controversy over “Meals on Wheels”? Joe Messina says the few cuts proposed are for duplicate programs that cover or encompass Meals on Wheels. And I doubt any of these programs will be cut by the time the budget makes its way through various congressional committees. Weaning toddlers can be difficult, but weaning dependents on the federal government seems almost impossible.