Over the past 50 years, the purpose of the American government has undergone a radical transformation.

So much so that even Franklin Roosevelt wouldn't recognize it, let alone Abraham Lincoln

or Thomas Jefferson.

Once admired for the minor role it played in citizens' lives, the American government,

both federal and state, has become within living memory of vast entitlements machine.

This primary function is to dispense benefits.

Indeed, federal and state governments now devote more attention and resources

to the public transfer of money, goods and services to individual citizens than to anything else.

By 2010, entitlement payments accounted for about two thirds of all federal spending,

with all other responsibilities of the federal government.

In other words, all the things government should do, making up barely one-third.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 1960, U.S. government transfers to individuals

totaled about $24 billion in current dollars.

By 2010, that total was almost 100 times larger, or $2.2 trillion.

After adjusting for inflation and population growth, that was still an increase of 727%.

What does all this mean?

And what is the consequence?

From the founding of our nation until quite recently,

Americans were regarded, both at home and abroad, as exceptional in a number of ways.

One of these was their fierce independence,

which informed not only the design of the political experiment that is the U.S. Constitution,

but also Americans approached everyday affairs.

...