Government provides a way for citizens to mooch off one another. The more political power a citizen has, the more mooching can be done. Politically powerful people do the preponderance of mooching. Those with little or no political power get few opportunities to mooch but still expect to draw benefits by virtue of being part of the population. There are a number of programs that benefit select poorly paid or non-working member of society. For the poor and middle class mooching does not have a net benefit.

Notice that government never shrinks in size. Spending never decreases. No proposals are ever made to decrease spending. No efforts are made to establish free markets. Talk of doing these things is constant but it is only talk.

Citizens identify themselves as liberals and conservatives but both favor policies they perceive as enabling mooching by the group they belong to. The country consists  of multitudes of socialists. There are liberal socialists and conservative socialists and a handful of powerless people like myself who are strong free market advocates.

I explain over and over again that economic, social, and political problems have very simple solutions that can be explained in one sentence. Long theories and complex explanations emerge not out of necessity but because the simple solution is deemed unpleasant.

All human behavior is rooted in the laws of dominance and subservience. All actions are based in self interest which makes survival possible. All predictors have a strong propensity to live off the efforts of others.  Even lions search for an already dead carcass before expending the effort to hunt. Humans are no different.

The wealth of individuals depends on the ability to live off the efforts of others. This does not have to be theft. Hiring others to carry out one’s will is still living off the efforts of others. It is just a very noble way to go about the process. When government is available to be used as a tool, countless dollars are made by passing laws that give one person an advantage over another. While virtually everyone professes to favor free markets, they seek to remove themselves from the constraints they want others to be bound by.

The result is that free markets slowly disappear. Even if the chance is illusive, citizens are not willing to give up the perceived opportunity to mooch or live off the efforts of others.

The United States is largely treated as a free market country but it is actually a top down socialist operation. Old style socialism emphasized trying to even out income distribution in ways that ostensibly benefited the poor. With top down socialism government is used to divert income and resources from the poor and middle class  and channel it to anyone who has the power to control government.