The Dependency Agenda is the Democrats’ Agenda

**Posted by Phineas

To promote the publication of their latest Broadside, Encounter Books has released the following video that illustrates the real reason behind the welfare state and, especially, Johnson’s “Great Society:” the creation of a permanent class of voters dependent on federal largesse who, in order to keep those checks coming, would also be reliable Democratic voters.

Cynicism, defined:

Think I’m just a foaming at the mouth right-winger? Consider: As the video points out, the so-called War on Poverty not only stopped the decline of poverty in its tracks, it increased it by keeping people dependent. The poverty rate under Obama is the highest it’s ever been since the Census Bureau started measuring it. Welfare reforms passed under Clinton, meant to encourage people to get off welfare as quickly as possible, have been gutted. Food Stamps are no longer a temporary, emergency measure to help the most needy, but something you encourage as many people as possible to get on, even throwing parties to celebrate dependence.

While I’m sure some liberals supported these measures out of a genuine (and genuinely misguided) desire to help people, the real goal is to create a patron-client relationship that will ensure Democratic majorities for generations to come, just as the New Deal did from 1932 to 1994. Or, as LBJ put it, when speaking about his Great Society program:

β€œI’ll have those ni**ers voting Democratic for the next 200 years.”

Cynical? Nah…

The Dependency Agenda is available in both paper and Kindle formats.

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)

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