Americans in "open rebellion"? I'm skeptical. Handouts create fierce constituencies. The tea-party movement is wonderful, but it takes strength to say no to government freebies.
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Not all of us want a country where the government is the nanny, the government takes care of us. But I think if we're ever going to get out from under a nanny government, we will have to work for it--I mean work hard. And stop accepting handouts we don't need. Start giving voluntarily before we do it by government.
Unfortunately, our system is designed to punish those who have personal philanthropic initiative--you don't get any easy tax exemptions for donating to charities. Sure, you can get deductions but not credits.
What if my brothers and I all decided tomorrow that we wanted to pay our parents for retirement, instead of our 7% social security and other fees? (actually, it's 15%, but half of it is hidden because employers have to pay it--and that inevitably means lower wages to remain competitive). Our parents would probably be far better off if we did that. But it's not an either-or decision. It's a government mandate. I'm definitely in favor of staying out of prison and obeying the law. But it illustrates an important point. For me, at least. YMMV.
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