Laurence O'Donnell, the screaming meemie ultra liberal who presides over one of the many far left news shows on MSNBC, has chosen to cite as his "show promotion", the WWII G.I. Bill as proof of how well Big Government succeeds in uplifting our fellow Americans.
As all liberals do, he twists the facts to fit his own political ideology. O'Donnell pimps the G.I. bill to advocate for today's big government welfare and give-away programs.
What O'Donnell doesn't tell you is that the character of those who emerged from the fire of World War II was far different than today's "victim class" that developed following the implementation of Lyndon Johnson's disastrous Great Society in 1965.
We all know that today's Big Government programs are rife with waste, fraud and corruption, driven by tens of millions of folks who have been on the government dole in one form or another for their entire lives. Whether it be Welfare, Food Stamps, WIC, Free Government Housing, Free Minority Scholarships, Pell Grants or a free ride from having to pay taxes, tens of millions of Americans today have assumed they are "entitled" to a free ride on the taxpayer's dime.
Contrast those today with those Americans who emerged from the Great Depression more sober and serious about their economic survival, only to be plunged into the flames of a World War that engulfed the entire planet.
How did those Americans respond? On December 8th, 1941, tens of millions of American men crowded into military recruitment offices, eager to join the fight! The enlisted G.I. was paid $50 bucks a month, and out of that he paid social security and income taxes! Yes, despite this meager pay, he paid taxes! (52 percent of all Americans today pay not a dime in income taxes and feel that is their right!)
Let's flash forward to WWII's end. In 1944 our Congress, a Congress that still had America's best interest at heart, anticipating a better future, passed the The WWII G.I. Bill of Rights. This G.I. Bill funded two programs which literally created America's Middle Class that, over the next five decades, paid a thousand times more in taxes, than the G.I. Bill cost the government to fund!
The Education portion of the G.I. Bill paid vets $110 dollars a month from which the vet was required to pay for his books, his tuition and all his living expenses. It worked! An amazing 72 percent of vets took advantage of this program. Following graduation they were able to offer their employers, an educated work force, with great character forged by the Great Depression and participation in World War II!
Upon joining the work force these vets used the housing portion of the G.I. Bill to buy homes and drove the percentage of home ownership from 15 percent to nearly 50% by the mid 1950's!
Results? The first Middle Class that America had ever known!
So, when Laurence O'Donnell pimps the old WWII G.I. Bill as proof that Big Government works, let's tell the whole truth. Government programs are only effective when they are given to those who actually deserve them, to those who have earned them, for those who use a "hand up" to stand on their own two feet....and not for those who are looking for a life-long free ride on the taxpayer's dime!
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