William Murray’s anti-Obama campaign through his Government Is Not God PAC failed to defeat the President, and so he took to WorldNetDaily today to blame Obama’s victory on “millions of votes from people who have little command of the English language” and the government providing “school lunch for millions of kids.” He said that the real problem in America all goes back to Social Security, which he claims “has harmed both the family and social fabric” and launched “the war on the traditional family.”
By dramatically reducing poverty among seniors, Murray argues that Social Security and Medicare allowed young people to “financially abandon their parents” and have “more money to spend on everything from booze to cars to Chinese-made clothes.” He goes on to claim that Social Security’s devastating impact on morality increased rates of drug use and has meant that “more children are born out of wedlock” and that “more young men destroy their lives in homosexuality.”
Social Security is the “third rail” of politics. It is a tremendously popular program not only with seniors but with their children as well. Social Security provides a safety net for the elderly but also reduces the burden on younger Americans to care for elderly parents. Unfortunately, Social Security has become an excuse for many children to financially abandon their parents. This has harmed both the family and social fabric.
The war on the traditional family began with President Franklin Roosevelt’s Social Security and other programs. One of the main reasons for marriages staying together was maintaining homes and wealth for old age. With the promise of government retirement money, many marriages could be walked away from for some very frivolous reasons. The divorce rates climbed as Social Security and other government benefits increased.
With many elders taken care of by the government, younger Americans could spend their money on themselves. Social Security and other benefits provided by government encouraged people to borrow and spend rather than to save. With a promise of government payouts to come in the future, the savings rate in the nation dropped to zero.
In the 1960s, Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” started providing “poor children” and “single mothers” with government benefits. A second front was opened up against the traditional family. Now the government paid women with children not to marry. With the advent of Medicare for the aging and SCHIP to provide medical care for children in homes with incomes of up to four times the level of poverty, younger adults had even more money to spend on everything from booze to cars to Chinese-made clothes. The more adults were freed from the financial responsibilities of family life by government, the more families began to deteriorate.
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When government rather than the family becomes the main provider, people see fewer practical reasons for morality. More adults live together without benefit of marriage. More children are born out of wedlock. More young men destroy their lives in homosexuality. Drug use destroys the will to work and the will to live. And government finances it all, but at a cost to the future. Benefit payments are so high that basic government services are not affordable.
