After living through more than 87 straight months of a Democratic president elected on a platform of “Hope and Change,” how is it possible that so many under-50 liberals are rallying around Bernie Sanders as the agent of change? The WSJ’s Daniel Henninger then asks, “What, exactly, is Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or even Bernie Sanders supposed to deliver that an infinity of politicians and public officials before them haven’t already delivered?”
As imperfect as it may be, the federal budget embodies what the U.S. is, writes Mr. Henninger. The 2015 federal budget spent 21% of the U.S. economy underwriting programs. Here are some programs funded by that $3 to $4 trillion:
Welfare programs include: the negative income tax, SNAP (supplemental nutrition), housing assistance, SSI, Pell Grants, TANF (temporary assistance for needy families), child nutrition, Head Start, job training programs, WIC (food for women and children), child care and Liheap (energy subsidies) (listed at federalsafetynet.com).
Entitlement programs include: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance and the Affordable Care Act.
Education: A website called CollegeScholarships.org lists “Grants from the U.S. Government: Free Money from Uncle Sam.”
“Why are 25-year-old liberals crying out for ‘change,’ if you are spending $4 trillion every year on all this stuff?” asks Mr. Henninger. “There’s hardly anything significant left to deliver …”
More on the failed policies of liberalism here.
