Maggie's Farm

The Barrister: One must wonder how people survived and thrived here in America for hundreds of years without food stamps, government benefits, or a maternal government. Perhaps they had a different mind-set.

Keep in mind that life expectancy was much shorter, and people usually worked until they dropped. Not too many people would want to return to those days.

The extended family was an important safeguard in traditional society. Modern society is much more fluid than it was, and the extended family has been replaced by the nuclear family, which, though more economically flexible, is also more prone to problems if one parent either leaves or becomes seriously ill and can't work.

During the Great Depression, rural people had the choice of either staying and trying to eek out a living in depressed communities or leaving their elderly parents behind to suffer deprivation. In effect, Social Security helps the previous generation be independent, so their children can be economically mobile.

The modern economy precludes the extended family in most situations. Adult siblings often live in different cities, close to where they work, with their own homes in which to raise their own children.

As for Medicare, more people are living longer, and modern medicine is much more than laudanum and a tonic. If you eliminate the extremes of medical expense for people in the last six months of life, then you would solve most of the projected Medicare deficit.