Julia: Obama’s Entitlement Darling
Trevor Thomas
May 23, 2012
I would like to thank the Obama
administration for validating the premise of my last column (“Our Entitlement Addiction”). In case you
forgot, in the column I declared that today’s poster children for our
Entitlement Society are the two recent winners of million dollar lotteries in
the state of Michigan—Amanda Clayton and Leroy Fick—who
enthusiastically continued receiving their state welfare after winning their
fortunes.
However, it seems that President Obama has awarded the Entitlement Society
poster-child job to “Julia.” With their moronic "The Life of Julia"
slideshow, the Obama administration paints a perfect picture (a "clear
manifestation" if you will) of the entitlement culture they wish not only
to maintain, but amazingly, grow.
In the sideshow—I mean slideshow, we first see Julia at age three enrolled in
the pre-k Head Start program. Head Start, which began as part of President
Lyndon Johnson’s Entitlement Society—I mean Great Society, is a “Great” example
of a federal program that we pour billions of taxpayer dollars into, that
accomplishes almost nothing it set out to, and will be virtually impossible to
get rid of.
Time Magazine’s Joe Klein said last year that after 45 years, “We spend
more than $7 billion providing Head Start to nearly 1 million children each
year. And finally there is indisputable evidence about the program's
effectiveness, provided by the Department of Health and Human Services: Head
Start simply does not work.” In other words, children who attend Head Start
perform no better than students of similar income and social status who did not
attend.
Like so many other government “programs,” Head Start has devolved into a jobs, healthcare, and childcare “program,” and thus its
continued popularity. Many liberals even acknowledge this. “The argument that
Head Start opponents make is that it is a jobs program,” a senior Obama
Administration official told Klein, “and sadly, there is something to that.”
Julia then embarks on her K-12 academic career, where the federal government
has had about as much success as it has with pre-k. According to the Cato Institute, since 1970, while inflation-adjusted
federal spending for 17-year-olds (as Cato notes, “The final years of high
school are the decisive ones…”) increased nearly 200%, math, reading, and
science scores were virtually flat-lined.
We are then told of how Julia benefits from the fruits of Obamacare,
which includes remaining on her parents’ insurance until age 26. Just what our
youth need—further motivation to put off adulthood and responsibility! Finally
able to stand on her own at age 27, Julia is thankful that Obamacare
requires her health insurance to cover her birth control. Of course, there is
no mention of marriage or a husband.
But there is mention of a child. We are told that at age 31, Julia decides to
have a child and that “Throughout her pregnancy, she benefits from maternal
checkups, prenatal care, and free screenings under health care reform.” In this
one sentence we get the clearest picture of the absurd liberal mindset. Because
of her government (especially President Obama), Julia is the beneficiary of
“free” health screenings. There is no mention of any costs; no mention of taxes
or who exactly is paying for Julia’s “free” screenings.
As she nears retirement age, Julia also is able to take advantage of Medicare
and Social Security. This is encouraging news for all of us,
because by this time Julia has reached her mid-sixties (This puts us around the
year 2075.). Given that both programs currently have well over a hundred
trillion dollars in unfunded mandates, and neither party seems serious about
significant reforms for either, I will be very exited
to see President Obama’s plan to ensure that both are still around as we
approach the 22nd century.
There is plenty more in the life of Julia that reveals her dependence on her
government. In fact, throughout her sad life she never really grows up. She is
revealed to be little more than a child nursing on the big bosom of the state.
Is this really how the Obama administration sees women? Where is the feminist
outrage? Then again, she does fit the bill when it comes to modern feminism;
all that is missing from Julia’s sorry existence is a couple of taypayer–funded abortions!
Now that Mitt Romney has a virtual lock on the GOP nomination, the 2012
presidential campaign is officially underway. “The Life of Julia” is one of the
first salvos in what is sure to be a brutal campaign. Romney has got to be
encouraged. With more efforts like this, he will have very little to do to show
undecided America Obama’s vision for the future. I just hope that there aren’t
too many Julias out there who vote.
Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics,
Science, Faith, and Reason