Entitlements 

Entitlements are the greatest domestic challenge the nation faces.  

These middle class retirement programs, Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, will cause federal spending to jump by half, from twenty percent of the economy to thirty percent by 2035. This tsunami of spending is a major threat to limited government because it runs on auto-pilot with automatic increases locked in by each program’s governing laws. While other programs are constrained through annual budgets, entitlements get first call on resources. Other goals such as defense or national security must compete for an increasingly smaller share of what’s left. This “locked in” spending is steadily undermining the economic future of younger generations who face a debt burden of $175,000. The moral and ethical challenge from the entitlement tsunami is undermining our democratic system as more Americans become dependent on the government and other priorities are automatically preempted.