AEI president: The welfare state alienates people [VIDEO]

American Enterprise Institute president Arthur Brooks told The Daily Caller that the problem with the welfare state is that it robs people of the dignity of earning what they have.

“One of the grave dangers we have in the modern welfare state is the alienation that happens to people when they become dependent on government,” Brooks explained to TheDC’s Ginni Thomas. “That doesn’t happen when people are the recipients of private charity, and it especially doesn’t happen when they are givers themselves.”

Growing up in his Seattle neighborhood, Brooks estimated that about a quarter of the people were on some sort of government assistance, and he said that many of those people called their welfare checks their “salary.”

“That’s how much people crave the concept of earning what they have,” he said. “It’s a human dignity question to earn what you have.”

Look for the full interview with Brooks Monday at The Daily Caller.