Just for the record, social programs or receiving federal assistance is not inherently evil nor wasteful. These programs are more pervasive than we realize; they are not all leech enablers... many of them are a leg up, a boost, making the America classes more diverse.
My mom came from a dirt poor family. My grandmother, Lillian, once walked me through a field where she had worked as a share-cropper (yes picking cotton, fruits, and vegetables in the first half of the 1900s); my grandparents grew/raised their food up until their deaths in the 1980s/90s. I've been chased by chickens, slaughtered pigs, eaten a squirrel or two and rabbits, snake, school cafeteria left-overs and stolen tomatoes of the vine; I know the smell of chitlins, pickled pigs feet, a pig pen, chicken roost, boiled peanuts, making sausage. I've snapped peas and harvested veggies while living with my grandparents as my mom served the active duty years of her military commitment. Grandma Lillian worked as a school cook. She was married at 14, cared for the children of my grandfather's first wife, and had eight of her own. My grandma went back to school and graduated high-school the same year as my mom, her youngest child. My grandfather worked as a mechanic for a time (I can't claim to know his employment history), and never learned to read. While I knew him, he was disabled using a walker then wheel chair. I remember him tearing up while in the hospital/nursing home because as a bright youngin, I would read Archie comics to him (I was about 8 y/o).  It made him proud, he was barely able to speak in his post-stroke(s), deteriorating condition. How were the costs, covered... I was too young to ask.
How did my family move up the social economic ladder? Let me give you a hint... various forms of federal assistance. My thesis, the point of my rant, is to share my experience and illustrate that social programs are not evil, so why are we so quick to judge them as a public nuisance?
My grandparents worked hard, gardened, raised animals, paid taxes, and had to use federal assistance- social security, medicaid, and welfare to raise their children. Public education (sigh, I know, no private schools, no college fund, no asking their share cropper/freedmen parents for money) made future teachers, military members (officers and enlisted), police officers, doctors, foremen, government civilians and contractors, real estate flippers and investors, dancers, college graduates and gasp! cashiers, secretaries, and high school graduates - remember, the lesser humans [sarcasm] that don't deserve health care, working cars, or student loans [I repeat, sarcasm].
American values, pride, and hard-work make social programs a critical resource for elevating quality of life for those of us who's parents merely worked hard (ewww, more than one job, off-brand groceries, latch-key kiddos, and military brats) and don't have so much money, that their money makes money. (Wouldn't that be great if we all made so much money, our money made money, and then we can have $1 salaries and pay %14 interest, versus that [easy] 17-27% the middle class (25k-125k for my purposes) end up paying.
My mom worked, used student loans, scholarships and grants, plus ROTC with military service to complete her college degree. Yes, a child, whose parents had to use federal assistance, went to public schooling, was a military signals officer and has been happily employed with the police force for 20 years... and subsequently raised two kids who went to public schools, joined the military and now have Post 911 GI bill privileges to pay for their college. My aunt Bobby, who did not join the military, with those same parents is an oncologist (psst, she didn't have a college fund either) see where I'm going with this... for some reason we are indoctrinated to believe this is a rarity upon rarity... but it's not. Social programs build better Americans. It's the reason why people illegally cross our border with the hopes their children will do more than mow lawns or clean homes... (yes, those humans need health care too, the dregs). I have yet to see trickle-down economics work, but I've seen build from the bottom up economics work. It's rare that a strong foundation causes any kind of collapse.
Why do wealthy Republicans insist on cutting social programs to manage the U.S. debt? Reduce the size and redundancy of government (hmm, that means getting rid of jobs), find the pork, stop funding countries that openly condemn us (ahem Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan, North Korea)... let's be honest, there are many places where government that can function with less money. Must federal workers endure a continued pay freeze as the cost of living continues to soar. I suppose it's okay that Romney/Ryan want to get rid of their jobs to begin with... bright new [sarcasm] idea, let's penalize the law-makers that make money on pushing rhetoric vs. managing our countries administrative needs... start there first.
I, personaly, enjoy a handy little social program called the GI Bill, yep, us Soldiers/Veterans pay it... and the taxpayers pay the rest. I had to enlist for it. It was designed to help us lower middle class folks get some degrees so we can get jobs besides working at Best Buy after we ETS. Cut Medicaid,Medicare, cancer screenings, civil servant funeral assistance training and job placement assistance, peace corp... let's forget the children of lower income (poor and middle class in this case) people who make up a lot of our military ranks, blue collar workers (unless you want to take your own garbage to the dump, work the cash register, build, assemble, plug, sort, clean...) and tell them they don't deserve a chance to achieve more than their parents.
Home Interest Tax credit... this member of the 47% needs it. EIC, credits for children... (oh yeah, this is the place where we make the somewhat social eugenics based, "don't have kids you can't afford" argument... I'll save that for any comments)... We're not China, have a friggin baby or two or three or more... that's none of my business at all. Â Who cares whether they eat organic chicken or canned chicken, just tell them to work hard, contribute.
Oh, and confession, I used unemployment after I ETS'd from the Army... it paid more than working at Carmax...Â
Reiterating the purpose of my rant, social programs, federal assistance, are not evil. They give millions of us Americans a chance to create a place for ourselves in our socio-economic structure, less dependent on from where or to whom we were born.
Additionally, the markets support Obama, look at the growth from Jan 2009 to the present on the NASDAQ, DOW and S&P 500.
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