By far the most pervasive and most influential driver of public policy in America is the deeply—religiously—held belief that
“You must NEVER get something you don’t deserve”
but applied only to things that might help you
Yes! And also that losses to "unworthy" recipients is seen as inefficient, while ignoring the inefficiency (or illiberality and inevitable problems) that come with a big government infrastructure to sift the "worthy" ones from the "unworthy" ones.
