A Voice in the Wilderness In Defense of "Mere Conservatism"

WSJ Editorial: Welfare State is Defense-less State

Often people ask me, "R.J., what should I be reading consistently to stay up on politics and news?"  Whether you are too busy to read as much as you would like, or you are a product of my generation and your attention span is largely non-existent, the answer is simple: READ THE WALL STREET JOURNAL!!!

From a recent editorial on the problems European nations have with balancing massive entitlements to its their citizens, and protecting them:

Such relative strategic weakness has made the Europeans more dependent on the American security umbrella, even as they resent it. But it also makes Europeans more disposed to avoid confrontation with adversaries like Saddam Hussein or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As Henry Kissinger has put it, European leaders are no longer able to ask their people to make major sacrifices.

So where does all the cash collected at insane levels of taxation go?

The overlooked culprit here is the rise of the modern welfare state. Since World War II and especially from the 1960s, Europe has built elaborate domestic income-maintenance programs, with government-run health care, pensions and jobless benefits. These are hugely expensive, requiring high taxes and government spending that is a huge proportion of GDP. The nearby table compares the so-called tax wedge across nations, which is one measure of the relative burdens to finance cradle-to-grave entitlements.

Countries that put a premium on national security, rule of law, encouraging entrepreneurship, and private charity (see: The United States of America) succeed.  They thrive.  They flourish.

Those that don't, well, they end up relying on the same "cowboy" Americans they decry at every turn.

Wake up America!