Fake Dependent Versus Real Dependent – Part One

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure for more information.

What is a government subsidy? For the purposes of this post, a government subsidy is a government benefit that derives from any government program that is exclusionary. Obamacare, for instance, isn’t open to all Americans. In order to get an Obamacare subsidy, you must have a low or modest income. If you make too much, you’re not getting an Obamacare subsidy. Most government subsidies are means-tested, they exclude the upper middle class and the rich. But some government subsidies are age-tested (e.g., Social Security for the most part excludes people under the age of 62), industry-tested (e.g., farm subsidies exclude non-farm businesses), clout-tested (e.g., tax abatements to spur development exclude all companies save huge companies such as Amazon, Tesla, and Boeing), or behavior-tested (e.g., the mortgage-interest deduction excludes those who secure housing without a mortgage—they either rent or own their homes outright and refuse to use their homes as an ATM).

To be an American is to be eligible for some kind of a government subsidy. We should change our name from the United States of America to the United States of Teat-Suckers. I’m currently sucking on the Obamacare teat, and in an embarrassingly short number of years, I’ll be sucking on the Social Security and Medicare teats.

The good news is that I’m not dependent on Obamacare subsidies. If the Obamacare program went away tomorrow, Mrs. Groovy and I would be fine. We wouldn’t like it (sucking on the government teat is such great fun), but we’re perfectly capable of buying health insurance without coerced charity. And the same goes for Social Security and Medicare. I’m going to enjoy sucking on those teats for 20 or 30 years. But if they went away or became substantially less generous, Mrs. Groovy and I would still have the means to live our old age in dignity.

I guess you can say I’m fake dependent on Obamacare. I don’t need it, but I take it. After all, if Washington wants to make my comfortable life even more comfortable, who am I to reject such generosity? As far as I’m concerned, Obamacare “puts the spring in Springfield”—it turbocharges my already great life.

Now a question: How many Americans are in my position—they don’t need the government subsidies they’re currently getting? My guess is that the number is tragically small. If all levels of government got out of the specific welfare game and only busied themselves with the general welfare,* most Americans would be in serious trouble—they’re real dependent on government subsidies. Without those handouts, their quality of life would plummet, and for some, their very survival would be in doubt.

* General welfare equates to the government providing goods and services that are universally needed and immediately available to all constituents. You don’t have to make a certain income, for instance, in order to take advantage of roads, sewers, parks, libraries, and police protection.

Now another question: How healthy is a society in which dependency on the government is the norm rather than the exception? I can’t imagine it’s very healthy. Does a country made up of largely weak and pathetic people build wealth, mainstream virtue, and advance man’s mastery over the physical world?

Final Thoughts

Being real dependent on government subsidies is no way to live. Happiness battens on autonomy, not compliance. And if you’re real dependent on government subsidies, you will have no choice but to do whatever our twisted political class wants you to do. Life for you will be an Orwellian nightmare—you’ll be forever exchanging your honor and your dreams for a filthy bowl of oatmeal.

In part two of this series, I’ll show you how to design your life so you’re not real dependent on government subsidies, you’re fake dependent. Peace.