Post Mortem III - 121111

The Post Mortem

Part III

(See previous posts for Parts I and II)

            This is the final post in a three-part blog dealing with the 2012 Election results and what they tell us.

I.     Smash Mouth Politics (See November 8 blog post)

           

II.   Failure to Persuade Minority Voters (See November 10 blog post)

III. On the Government Dole

When we think about people receiving “a government check” we tend to envision stereotypical transfer payments such as welfare, food stamps, social security, and the like.  There is no doubt these programs are the largest contributors to our budget problems (current and forecasted).  And clearly people who are dependent upon these government programs have every incentive to vote for candidates that will continue the flow of other people’s money to them.  But the political problem is much broader than traditional transfer payment recipients.  In addition to those people directly receiving government transfers, there are millions of voters that depend upon government, either directly or indirectly, for their livelihoods.

As of March 2011, state and local governments employed 16.4 million full time equivalent workers.  In addition, there are approximately 2.2 million full time equivalents employed by the federal government.  So, more than 18.5 million American workers get a paycheck from the government.  There are approximately 135 million people employed in this country, which means nearly 1 out of 7 employees works for the government!

What does this mean?  It means that 14% of the electorate has a personal vested interest in the continued expenditure of government money, whether or not there is a rate of return on the expense.

In addition to government employees on the payroll, there are countless businessmen and women that receive large chunks of income from government.  Construction companies, engineering firms, architects, artists, musicians and countless other people make their “private sector” incomes from government contracts.  Once again, this is not a value judgment about the individual receiving the income; it is simply recognition of the fact that a large percentage of our population has no incentive to restrain government spending and borrowing because they benefit directly from its excesses.

Ah yes, and then we have Mitt Romney’s infamous 47%.  It is a fact that 47% of American "taxpayers" pay zero federal income tax.  Therefore, they have no incentive to oppose additional taxation, borrowing or spending.  They benefit from government services, but don’t pay anything toward them.  I am NOT casting aspersions on any of these folks.  They get up in the morning and go to work or collect a government check to which they are entitled under our current system.  This is not about character, ill will, or any such thing.  It is simply an acknowledgement of the fact that as a group, people within this demographic have no incentive to control government’s cost, or restrain its spending and borrowing.  So politicians win these voters by simply promising to spend more government (other people’s) money.

This is a very difficult problem to solve.  In order to reduce the number of people that receive their compensation from the government, we will have to reduce the role of government in our society.  Hopefully Americans will come to the conclusion we don’t want to become a welfare state, and will elect limited government conservatives to serve in public office.  There are many fair minded, reasonable Democrats who understand we cannot continue to grow government.  I hope these folks will put country ahead of political Party and join the cause.  And of course there are many Republican candidates and office holders that are not willing to take the political risks necessary to tell the truth and then vote accordingly.  We must hope they see the light.