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The Dependency Agenda (Encounter Broadsides) [Paperback]

Kevin D. Williamson
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

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Book Description

May 29, 2012 Encounter Broadsides (Book 28)
Each year, the United States spends $65,000 per poor family to “fight poverty” – in a country in which the average family income is just under $50,000. Meanwhile, most of that money goes to middle-class and upper-middle-class families, and the current U.S. poverty rate is higher than it was before the government began spending trillions of dollars on anti-poverty programs.

In this eye-opening Broadside, Kevin D. Williamson uncovers the hidden politics of the welfare state and documents the historical evidence that proves Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” was designed to do one thing: maximize the number of Americans dependent upon the government. The welfare state was never meant to eliminate privation; it was created to keep Democrats in power.

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The Dependency Agenda (Encounter Broadsides) + The People v. the Democratic Party + The Higher Education Bubble (Encounter Broadside)
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kevin D. Williamson is an editor at National Review, the author of the forthcoming The End of Politics (And What Comes Next), and a columnist for The New Criterion. He began his journalism career at the Mumbai-based Indian Express Newspaper Group and has worked as a reporter, columnist, and editor at a variety of newspapers. He directed the journalism program at the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University and serves as an adjunct professor at The King’s College in New York City.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 48 pages
  • Publisher: Encounter Books (May 29, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1594036632
  • ISBN-13: 978-1594036637
  • Product Dimensions: 4.6 x 0.2 x 6.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #152,011 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

A very large number receive unearned benefits---and have been turned into moochers. David Thomson  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement
(P.S. If you think this is all a right-wing fantasy, then answer me this. Geoff Puterbaugh  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Scary and enlightening June 26, 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I had no idea that LBJ was such a die-hard racist. After all, didn't he push his "Great Society" through Congress?

What he actually thought (and said) was, "We'll have those (N-words) voting Democratic for 200 years." Which is just about the most repulsive thought ever uttered by an American politician.

So the first step in the "dependency agenda" was to hook the poor on government handouts. The second step is less obvious, but really much more important. Let me explain it to you.

The government rakes in the lettuce and then has to give at least some of it to those who are deemed to be "poor." But it needs a middleman to distribute the lettuce, and long ago began farming this work out to non-profit AND for-profit organizations. These people make genuinely handsome salaries (as opposed to their poor "clients") and they would be utterly wiped out if the welfare state disappeared.

So we have two large voting blocs who vote Democratic because that's where their money comes from: those deemed worthy of welfare &c. and (more important) the Welfare Emperors who control the distribution of the lettuce.

This is a corrupt way of doing things, which seems to beg for even more corruption along the way.

This is a quick read, which is both scary and enlightening. Very highly recommended!

(P.S. If you think this is all a right-wing fantasy, then answer me this. As is well known, the U.S. government is broke, and running a deficit of 1.5 TRILLION dollars a year. Given this situation, WHY would the Obama administration be spending $3 million on a campaign to get MORE people on food stamps?)

"...another device is used by rulers to gain the consent of their subjects: purchase by material benefits, bread as well as circuses. The distribution of this largesse to the people is also a method, and a particularly cunning one, of duping them into believing that they benefit from tyrannical rule. They do not realize that they are in fact only receiving a small proportion of the wealth already filched from them by their rulers."
--- La Boetie
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars The other side of dependency June 9, 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
There are enough insights and surprises to warrant spending the little bit of time you'll invest in reading this. The main take away for me is the delivery industry end of the equation, that's way beyond just the particular hapless boob (congressman) in WDC. I recommend this book.

Some constructive criticism:
A couple / few graphs would be useful and supportive.
I can't accept the idea that any forced support of anyone is ever moral.
Using and dismissing Ayn Rand as a pole (that the author thinks we needn't adopt), w/o explaining or contrasting was annoying.
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18 of 23 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Is it too late? Can our nation even be saved? May 27, 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Roughly half of all Americans depend on government assistance of one sort or another. A very large number receive unearned benefits---and have been turned into moochers. Kevin Williamson convincingly argues that Lyndon B. Johnson and Barack Obama deliberately advocated such policies primarily to increase the power of the Democratic Party. In short, they wished to bribe their voters. The author is cynical. One is also hard pressed to disagree with his conclusion.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars The Dependency Agenda
I appreciate the historical context and descriptions of the impulses that brought in the Great Society. Read more
Published 27 days ago by Marvin L. Warren
3.0 out of 5 stars Informative, especially for the low-information folks, but...
Of course, Williamson's group, National Review, was not quite against the welfare state. William F. Buckley, the "Grandfather of conservativism", and conservatives of the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Sharpshooter
4.0 out of 5 stars Where are we headed?
When the takers outnumber the givers our nation is doomed. That's the basic message in this very short Encounter Broadside. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mark Sutter
5.0 out of 5 stars Clear and Interesting Description of an Important Issue
This description of the growth of dependency on the the Government by the American people offers what are for me some new ways of thinking about dependency that I found highly... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Theodore
5.0 out of 5 stars Shows the incentives of politicians in creating dependency
This book is pretty decent. A lot of people talk about the Roman Empire (and waffle on about "bread and circuses"), but if you can speak English and live in/ grew up in America,... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Lemas Mitchell
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read
There is a whole lot of information included in this pint-sized pamphlet that would surprise a whole lot of people. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Patriot
5.0 out of 5 stars Wards of the State
One way to increase the likelihood of voters electing you is if you make them depend on you for EVERYTHING.
Published 6 months ago by Nick
5.0 out of 5 stars Buying Votes with Government Programs
You don't need to be a hardened cynic to think that the Democratic Party willfully attempts to get people hooked on government benefits to preserve power for itself and security... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Eric Mayforth
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Fascinating
This book a well detailed essay that thoroughly destroys asinine liberal assumptions like "the Republicans have been racist since the sixties".
Published 7 months ago by Eric Sellers
2.0 out of 5 stars Conspiracy Happens
To resonate with The Dependency Agenda you have to enter a fanciful sinister conspiratorial world of LBJ machinations bent on power, and power alone, with any social good accruing... Read more
Published 8 months ago by David O'Hara
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