Florida Republican Rep. Allen West said Sunday that Social Security disability insurance is “a form of modern, 21st-century slavery.”
“Since June of 2009 or so, we have seen 2.4 million private sector jobs created, but we’ve had 3.1 million people going on Social Security disability and, as we said just this past month, the 85,000 went on Social Security disability as opposed to 80,000 jobs created,” West said during an appearance on Fox News, Politico reports.
“So once again we are creating the sense of economic dependence which, to me is a form of modern, 21st-century slavery,” West said.
To put these numbers in context, The New American reported that the number of workers receiving federal disability insurance payments — over 8.7 million in the past month — “surpasses the entire population of New York City by more than 500,000.”
West has used similar language in previous indictments of the Obama administration. Last weekend West said President Obama would rather have American voters “be his slave[s] and be economically dependent on him,” ABC News reports.
“Self-esteem comes from doing esteemable things. Sitting at home and getting a check from the government is not going to help your self-esteem. What it will do is make you an economic slave to people living in a far, far, distant place,” West said.
When asked about his references to slavery, an unapologetic West said, “We should not regret telling the truth in the United States of America.”