"If Congress is ever going to restore the federal government to its proper size and scope, it must devise an effective strategy to control the growth of middle-class entitlements."
Middle-class entitlements are "the driving force behind the growth of government," say Stuart Butler and John Barry of the Heritage Foundation. They also "embody one of the most inappropriate and inefficient of the many roles government has assumed for itself -- government as manager of personal finance."
What are middle-class entitlements? Butler and Barry cite "such tax-financed expenditure programs as Social Security, Medicare, and subsidized student loans. Unlike other programs," they observe, "these programs do not need legislation to grow -- they need legislation to stop growing. Without firm action and a shrewd political strategy to achieve that action, the autopilot nature of entitlements will cause government to grow even if tough steps are taken to curb other federal programs."
Butler and Barry recognize that "middle-class entitlements have created a powerful constituency for larger government within the very segment of the population that traditionally has been most hostile to any expansion of government power. Some programs," they note, "have such a large middle-class constituency that conservatives risk eroding their political base by raising even the possibility of curbing entitlements. These programs foster a disturbing notion among the middle class that government has an inherent responsibility to ensure that they are insulated from the vicissitudes of life and get their perceived 'fair share' of the economic pie."
Butler and Barry predict that "entitlement spending will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. The Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform concluded in 1995 that by 2030, under current law, entitlement spending will consume all federal tax revenues collected. This means that, unless taxes are raised, the government will have to borrow money to pay for every discretionary program, including national defense, interstate highway construction, and foreign diplomacy."
Butler and Barry cite "two overriding reasons for the rapid growth of entitlement spending. First, the number of people eligible for payments has increased steadily as new programs have been created and old ones expanded," they observe. "Second, demographic trends have caused levels of spending to grow."
The middle class is hooked on handouts. "The growth of middle-class entitlements represents the gradual seduction of what once was the most anti-government segment of the American population," say Stuart Butler and John Barry. "This process has taken many decades. It has been successful not only because the political architects of these programs have designed them so skillfully, but also because attitudes toward risk and security among ordinary Americans have changed."
Butler and Barry concede that "widespread belief in an entitlement society makes tackling entitlements a politically treacherous matter. But, unless these programs are curbed," they warn, "and unless the middle class is freed from psychological dependence on them, it will be impossible to constrain the growth of government and restore the federal government to its proper role."
