Glenn Beck, the Tea Party and lots of government handouts

Media Matters

The audience was typical of a large Beck fan gathering -- predominantly over 50 and white and heavy on retirees, the jobless and military veterans, or the kind of people who now often receive government benefits like Medicare or unemployment checks that would likely get hammered if policymakers actually listened to Beck's budget scheme.

Most of the attendees were eager to voice their resentments at the portrayal of Beck fans as either racist or as capable of violence -- but many of them clearly feel rage toward the Obama administration.

Perhaps none more so than 71-year-old Phillis Kluft, who raised four kids as a single mom in East Haven, Connecticut, and moved six years ago to The Villages, Fla., a retiree-laden epicenter of Beckmania where she now is a leader of the Tri-County Tea Party of Florida. Kluft said she believes that supporters of President Barack Obama want Washington are mainly seeking handouts.

"I saved money for my old age and didn't go on a vacation or buy a new car," she said, her voice rising in intensity. "It really galls me that these people sit on their ass and expect other people to take care of them!," the grandmother said, then adding to whoops of approval in Section 107, "I am so disgusted with this Obama bullshit!"

Let me please be clear, I am NOT suggesting that anyone who had paid into Social Security for a lifetime is on a government dole.

What I AM outright saying is that someone who relies on Social Security for their income should not be running around and criticizing social policies, since they've subscribed to one for their entire adult life and are now benefiting from it, living primarily on the income provided by it.

I will also say that Ms. Kluft should also consider that the average worker pays in enough to cover just less than 11 years of retirement. (The Heritage Foundation calculates that a 40-year-old male with an income just under $60,000, will contribute $284,360 in payroll taxes to the Social Security trust fund over his working life, and can expect to receive $2,208 per month in return under the current program). If she lives more than another 5 years, she'll be drinking my milkshake, so to speak. At that point can we condemn her for "sitting on her ass" and letting me take care of her?

Just something to think about.