What would Laura Ingalls Wilder have to say about today's entitlements?

WORLDNET DAILY: REAL AMERICA, 6/4/2011 by Patrice Lewis - From pioneers to pansies

Do you remember your Laura Ingalls Wilder books? I don't know about you, but these classic stories of a pioneer childhood give me a full-blown inferiority complex. Looking over what Laura's parents, Charles and Caroline (and later Laura and her husband) did in a normal day's work puts me to shame. With little more than a few hand tools and a lot of know-how, they created homes from bare dirt and grew their own food. They tried to depend on no one because often there was no one around to depend on. What they couldn't afford they did without. When they did borrow money, it often got them in trouble and they regretted it. The Ingalls family tried never to be "beholden" to anyone. The only time they ever took a government handout was when they participated in the Homestead Act. ∴ In the sequels to the "Little House" series, written by Rose Wilder Lane's heir, Roger Lea MacBride, Laura and her husband, Almanzo, moved to Missouri, bought land and spent many years making it into a productive farm. In these books, Laura speaks disparagingly about the Homestead Act. "It's a sin and a shame what the government in Washington did to folks, promising them free land," Laura says. "Free land indeed. It only shows that no good ever comes of getting something for nothing. It nearly ruined my pa, and look what it did to us. Every soul ought to pay his way in this world. It's the only honest and true way to live." What would Laura have to say about the extensive welfare and entitlements rampant today? Read more: From pioneers to pansies...