You don't want to be government's pet

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 5, 2025)

The SNAP crisis has shown a flaw in encouraging people to become dependent on government for anything essential. If you allow yourself to become dependent on government, it will own you.

Why would you do this to yourself? To your family?

This isn't only about food, but about a job, your personal safety, health care, or anything else you expect government to provide. Being dependent on government- something you have no real control over, and which relies on a steady stream of stolen money- is a terrible idea.

Pure self-sufficiency is impossible, but it should remain a guiding principle. It's preferable to not be a burden on others, but to be able to help them when you can. You can't do this if you are too dependent on someone else for your basic needs.

When you're dependent, the best case is that you'll be treated like a pampered pet. You may be taken care of, but you're not in control of your life or your destiny. You may be fed what someone else wants you to eat, and you may get neutered. Literally and figuratively.

The worst case is that you'll be treated like a slave. You aren't in control of your own life, but are under the control of people who don't care what happens to you. They may feed you as long as it serves their purposes and they can use you, but they don't care what happens to you if those purposes change. You're not important to them. You're fooling yourself if you believe you are; if you believe they really care more about you than about their power over you.

If you become dependent on someone else, you've given them the power to hurt you. All they have to do is withhold whatever you've come to rely on and use your anguish as a bargaining chip. Congratulations, you are now a political pawn to be used by political criminals to get whatever they want.

If you decide to riot or steal because of the situation, you've played right into their hands by doing what they were hoping you'd do. They might have said they don't want you to do these things, but they are lying. Your disruptive behavior gives them the excuses they've been hoping for.

I don't want you to put yourself in this position. Do what you can to cut the chains of dependence.

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The anger correlation

I’ve often heard Leftists claim that everyone to the Right of them is only "that way" because they are full of hate and anger (or are ignorant), but in my experience, that’s just not accurate. Or, at least not exclusive to one side.

I do believe, based on a lifetime of observation, that statism of any variety makes a person visibly less happy. It may be a function of going deeper in one extreme direction; those nearer the average may be happier. The people I know who are on the Right haven't been moving further Right, and are generally happier unless someone brings up one of their bonnet bees ("immigration", for example). 

And everyone is ignorant of most of reality, even if we prefer to believe otherwise.

I know one person who is exceedingly w0ke (although she'd deny it and claim it's not about politics), and she hates everything and almost everyone. The more angry she becomes, the further Left she seems to drift, or the further Left she gets, the more angry she becomes- it's hard to tell which way it goes. 

She’s very angry at the world. She only likes movies that depict torture and gruesome murder... or Marvel superhero movies. She only likes angry, screaming "music". She has no room for other opinions on anything, and no matter what you bring up that you like, she has to tell you how much she hates it.

I've mentioned her before. I care what happens to her, but it's hard to have a conversation anymore, because she's getting more w0ke and more angry. Any conversation with her devolves into her expressing hatred toward someone or something after just a few minutes- not towards me, because I know what not to say, but it's ridiculous. I don't know if it's because she believes the world isn't going her way anymore (if it ever did), or just the stress of her job. Or if it's a result of taking herself much too seriously. She's just the most extreme example I personally know of, but there are others.

I would think she's an outlier if I weren't seeing the same thing in so many other places, from so many other people. I know another person (basically non-political) who believes anger "works" for her, and who is proud of it. Of course, there are those on the Right who obsess over the specific things that make them angry. And, I see online libertarians who wallow in anger, too. Usually, it's when they try to mix "Right" or "Left" into their libertarianism, but some genuinely seem to enjoy hating. 

What is going on here? Is there a pandemic of hate and anger? Where will this lead? It doesn't seem like it's going to turn out well.

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