Socialism's March
One can see how seductive the welfare state is by looking at a micro case: "welfare", in this case, is the bloated bureaucracy serving our local school district. 1,601 are on the payroll, meaning any levy vote or school board vote is going to enjoy 1,601 votes right off the top, assuming they vote their self-interest.
This is pretty much how national elections go too. As more and more people benefit from government giveaways, more and more will vote to keep or extend those giveaways. Which is why even Ronald Reagan couldn't cut spending.
In the last election, the decision whether to build another high school ended up with: 8,229 FOR to 7,165 AGAINST. But if you take out the employees voting for their employer, you have 6628 FOR to 7,165 against. They basically won the election for themselves since a third high school means more jobs for teachers and, more importantly, administrators.
And this time around, for the local school board, the teachers union-endorsed candidates won. Not surprising. It had all the drama of a Soviet election.
For all the sturm und drang over the federal government, at least there is the constant white-hot spotlight of the press. At the local level, the press doesn't have the money and the populace is mostly somnolent, which allows government - including schools - to get away with an awful lot. Which also explains why the New Orleans debacle turned out as tragic as it was.
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