The Ultimate Devastating Price of Government Dependency

[Geee]

American Thinker:

The devastating price of government dependency. I witnessed it up close and personal in the late '50s, when I was a child. Both of my mom's sisters had five kids each by various men who simply deposited their seed and moved on. Thus, both of my aunts were totally dependent on government. They lived in the projects.

The oldest of five children, I remember when my parents and four siblings also lived in the projects. We moved out to a black suburb when dad broke the color barrier into the Baltimore City Fire Department and became a firefighter.

Still, it was a treat whenever I was permitted to sleep over at my cousins' home in the projects in the exciting city.

The atmosphere at my welfare-dependent cousins' home was strikingly different from mine -- a subtle sadness which made me feel a little sorry for them. I felt that they envied me and my siblings for having a dad who actually lived with us. I remember seeing large cans and boxes of generic foods, peanut butter, powdered milk, meat, and cheese. As a child, I felt food was weirdly important to them. My siblings and I could go into our fridge anytime we desired. My cousins' fridge was off-limits without permission.

Despite lots of extremely loud talking and laughter in their homes, both my aunts appeared chronically angry and bitter, with short, explosive tempers. A threat of violence constantly loomed over life in the government projects inside and outside of the home.

If you add up the financial value of what my welfare cousins received for "free" from the government (housing, food, and health care) their annual income probably far surpassed that of my dad. And yet, I considered my cousins poor. They perceived themselves to be poor as well.
Of my ten welfare-dependent cousins, only one remarkably "made it." He worked his way through college and became very successful. The other nine never ventured off the government plantation, seduced as they were by the false promise of security. Consequently, they succumbed to alcohol and drug abuse and out-of-wedlock births. Four of my cousins' lifestyles caused them to suffer early deaths.

Clearly, my two aunts' choice, or at least their perceived lack of any option beyond totally relying on government for their survival, came at a devastatingly high price -- the self-image and spirit of themselves and their children.

This tragic scenario sponsored by mostly Democrats has been playing out in the black community for at least fifty years.