Thomas Schaller in the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post

Political science professor Thomas F. Schaller’s latest Baltimore Sun column responds to the claim that “President Obama won re-election because Americans want ‘free stuff’.” He argues that “contrary to what talk-show conservatives imply, many government programs skew toward middle-class and upper-income Americans” and usage of federal benefit programs is near universal, rather than tied to political affiliation. Schaller writes, “according to political scientists Suzanne Mettler and John Sides, 96 percent of Americans have benefited from at least one (and typically more) of just 21 federal programs, ranging from student loans to the mortgage interest deduction, from the employer health care …