Why is Socialism such a popular idea here?

It occurs to me that one of the main reasons socialist proposals find so many admirers here--in a nation that was founded on the concept of individual rights--is that socialists aren't proficient in math.

To explain: With very few exceptions, people who are on the low end of the economic ladder are there because they don't have the skills that would let them get a better job. This is certainly a sad condition, to be improved if at all possible.

Socialists seek to help the poor through a dazzling array of programs, and also by simply giving them your tax dollars. Not surprisingly, those who stand to get these "freebies" are totally in favor--and the more the better, thank you.

But there's a problem (actually many problems, but this one will suffice for now): Once the socialists have succeeded in opening the government treasury to the poor, how can the total number of beneficiaries be limited to a number that can be supported by those who pay taxes?

Of course there is no way to limit the number of "takers." Thus in the long run, any nation that seeks to give the poor a standard of living near that of middle-class workers must necessarily go bankrupt, as more low-paid workers opt to sit at home and wait for the government check each month.

I suspect the men who labored to craft our Constitution knew that if politicians ever arrogated to themselves the power to bestow public money on individuals, all would be lost fairly quickly. That's why they carefully, explicitly limited the federal government to only a set of "enumerated powers," found in Article I of the Constitution. Then to emphasize their seriousness, they deliberately and with great thoughtfulness added Tenth Amendment, which said...

You know what it says, of course. But ask your liberal friends if they know.

Then ask 'em what they think that amendment means.

Unfortunately, incompetent, ignorant congresscritters--and an occasional president willing to do anything to be re-elected--began ignoring the Constitutional limits on the powers of the government decades ago.

Which is how we find ourselves in the current situation, some $14.3 Trillion in debt, and committed to government spending at a level so far beyond our means that the government will have to borrow roughly $1.6 Trillion this year alone to fund all the obligations of the unConstitutional programs previous congresses and presidents have conspired to set up.