The Texas blog, Big Jolly Politics, is a blog that "attempts to tell the truth, the whole truth and let the chips fall where they may." On September 28, 2012, Ed Hubbard, a blogger for Big Jolly Politics, allows the chips to fall when he writes about the 47% of Americans that use federal programs as a safety net while living life.
Hubbard does an excellent job with comparing federal programs to the safety nets tightrope walkers use in the circus. Basically, federal programs, such as "Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Unemployment Insurance," were formed to help Americans out if they ever hit a huge road block in life, thus the "safety net." Before these programs, Americans use to turn to family and friends for their safety net.
He also goes on to explain that the federal programs available allow Americans to not take any risks when life struggles come up. This is like a tightrope walker walking the tightrope on the floor instead of off the ground. With more and more Americans depending on these federal programs longer than attended, our government is becoming more and more in debt.
Now being an American who is using some of the federal programs as a safety net, I can personally say it is easier said than done to get the tightrope off the floor and back in the air. This is why I semi-disagree with what Hubbard is expressing in his blog. Even though Hubbard is right about Americans depending on federal programs too long, sometimes it is harder to rely on one's self because many of the programs are excellent, especially the ones I am using. In my opinion, not everyone using the programs deserve to be on them, but others using them, myself included, do. I truly believe that if Hubbard ever needed to use one of these programs as his safety net, his view would be much different.
