Dennis Prager’s latest column is worth reading.

Summary:

While liberals are certain about the moral superiority of liberal policies, the truth is that those policies actually diminish a society’s moral character. Many individual liberals are fine people, but the policies they advocate tend to make a people worse.

The rest of the article outlines the top 10 ways that progressive policies harm moral character.

Here’s one:

1. The bigger the government, the less the citizens do for one another. If the state will take care of me and my neighbors, why should I? This is why Western Europeans, people who have lived in welfare states far longer than Americans have, give less to charity and volunteer less time to others than do Americans of the same socioeconomic status.

The greatest description of American civilization was written in the early 19th century by the Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville. One of the differences distinguishing Americans from Europeans that he most marveled at was how much Americans – through myriad associations – took care of one another. Until President Franklin Roosevelt began the seemingly inexorable movement of America toward the European welfare state – vastly expanded later by other Democratic presidents – Americans took responsibility for one another and for themselves far more than they do today. Churches, Rotary Clubs, free-loan societies and other voluntary associations were ubiquitous. As the state grew, however, all these associations declined. In Western Europe, they have virtually all disappeared.

And here’s another one:

7. The welfare state corrupts family life. Even many Democrats have acknowledged the destructive consequences of the welfare state on the underclass. It has rendered vast numbers of males unnecessary to females, who have looked to the state to support them and their children (and the more children, the more state support) rather than to husbands. In effect, these women took the state as their husband.

The political agenda of the left is not good for moral character, or for the family – where moral character is developed. We need to be self-reliant, to work hard, to give to charity and to serve our neighbors individually.