Politics: Keep Your Government Hands off My Government Programs!

... many Americans who currently say they support cutting government programs don't realize just how much they benefit from them.

Remember, for example, when a town hall attendee famously told his congressman to keep your government hands off my Medicare? Apparently that bewilderingly blinkered sentiment is hardly unique.

Percentage of Program Beneficiaries Who Report They Have Not Used a Government Social Program
Program	No, Have Not Used a Government Social Program
529 or Coverdell	64.3
Home Mortgage Interest Deduction	60.0
Hope or Lifetime Learning Tax Credit	59.6
Student Loans	53.3
Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit	51.7
Earned Income Tax Credit	47.1
Social Security—Retirement & Survivors	44.1
Pell Grants	43.1
Unemployment Insurance	43.0
Veterans Benefits (other than G.I. Bill)	41.7
G.I. Bill	40.3
Medicare	39.8
Head Start	37.2
Social Security Disability	28.7
Supplemental Security Income	28.2
Medicaid	27.8
Welfare/Public Assistance	27.4
Government Subsidized Housing	27.4
Food Stamps	25.4
Source: Suzanne Mettler, Reconstituting the Submerged State: The Challenge of Social Policy Reform in the Obama Era, Perspectives on Politics (September 2010): 809.

For more, see Keep Your Government Hands off My Government Programs! by Catherine Rampell, February 11, 2011 at NYTimes.com.