Obama Democrats’ troubling view on work

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All true and yet, as Carney’s defense showed, something much, much larger is at play. The impacts are symptoms. The disease is that leading Democrats view fewer workers and more dependency as a good thing. That attitude largely explains slow economic growth, record-low labor rates and the explosion of handouts over the last five years.

This anti-job, pro-dependency tilt is the crux of the nation’s polarization. In essence, it pits those who believe in the sanctity of work against those who believe in penalizing wealth and redistributing its fruits.

Not all Democrats agree with that approach, but the party is now controlled by those who do. It is the party that celebrates subsidies and rewards states for getting more people on food stamps. It opens the door wider for disability payments and fights for unemployment benefits like it once fought for jobs. It does these things not because of an emergency but because of a warped ideology.

As such, it has broken with the heritage celebrated on the postage stamps and in the hearts and minds of generations. In that America, work, any work, was honorable while being on the dole was cause for shame. Still is.

Yes, work itself has changed and many manufacturing and factory jobs have disappeared. Yet the most troubling change has nothing to do with the kind of work and everything to do with attitudes and values about work.

The stigma attached to getting something for nothing is being replaced by an endless demand for more free stuff. One party is stoking that demand as it moves from being the working-class party to the entitlement party.

That revelation counts as the silver lining of ObamaCare. We now have it straight from the White House and Congress that creating jobs is not really their goal. Instead, the president’s singular piece of legislation is a success because it helps people get healthcare while avoiding work. That is the Obama legacy. It should be celebrated with postage stamps featuring couch potatoes dozing in front of televisions.

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